Ah, yes, another bit of Trevor Bauer to the Giants rumor/speculation.
While MLB Network's Jon Heyman in November predicted Trevor Bauer would sign with the Giants and it's been reported that the Giants have showed interest in Bauer, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal is the latest to provide his take on the situation.
Rosenthal doesn’t hate the idea, and for good reason.
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“I’d be more dismissive of this if, in the past several years we had not seen [the Giants] go after Bryce Harper and Giancarlo Stanton,” Rosenthal said Tuesday on MLB Network’s ‘MLB Now.’ “In those two situations, they were in a worse competitive situation than they are now, just starting the rebuild, but their thinking was ‘OK, put that piece in the middle, build around it.’”
Bauer, the most sought-after starting pitcher in free agency, boasted a 1.73 ERA with 100 strikeouts in 73 innings with a 0.80 WHIP and winning the 2020 NL Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds.
Bauer has indicated in the past that he would want to sign a one-year deal with a team during this free agency. However, his agent, Rachel Luba, made it clear they were open to listening to all types of offers.
Rosenthal spoke on that as well.
San Francisco Giants
“You wouldn’t want Bauer for one year with the Giants, that would make no sense, but if you could do it long term -- yes, this is a team that desperately needs starting pitching, and financially, they’ve got players coming off their payroll, specifically after this season and next,” Rosenthal added.
Kevin Gausman accepted his qualifying offer signing a one-year, $18.9 million deal to return to the Giants in November. Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Johnny Cueto and Buster Posey all will be free agents after the 2021 season. Evan Longoria will hit free agency in 2023.
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“They’re going to free it up a little bit, actually quite a bit,” Rosenthal said. “So from that perspective, it makes a lot of sense.”
The Giants' rotation currently looks bare with Gausman, Cueto and Logan Webb rounding it out, so they definitely remain in need of a strong starter or two. However, given the ace certainly will command a monster contract, the Giants' front office must decide if they want to put all of their eggs in the Bauer basket.
MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand told NBC Sports Bay Area in November that not only do the Giants have the money to make an acquisition like this happen, they also should be primed to contend sooner than later in the NL West, which could help lure Bauer.
Despite the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers and rising San Diego Padres, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies could take a step back in the standings, making the Giants an interesting team to pay attention to in the Bauer sweepstakes.
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Rosenthal says the Giants are one of a handful of teams that is able to spend the money on someone of Bauer’s caliber, but we shouldn't expect to find out where he goes for a while. The pitching market for starters appears strong so far, but given the uncertainty surrounding the league amid another unprecedented season, we might be waiting for a while for an answer.
