Should This Shunned Pitcher Be Wearing Purple Pinstripes?

News recently broke that Trevor Bauer is heading back to the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Japanese Central League. This comes after dominating the Mexican Baseball League for the Diablos Rojos setting the record of most strikeouts in a game with 19 enroute to winning the Mexican League’s version of the Cy Young award. He led the league with 120 strikeouts in just 83 and a third innings, finishing with a 10-0 record and a 2.48 ERA in 14 starts. Oh, he also helped his team to a championship as well. Numbers and accolades like this should warrant some Major League looks, so why aren’t the Colorado Rockies biting?

Dark Times for Both Sides

Bauer was infamously accused of sexual assault in the middle of the 2021 Major League season. Although he was never found guilty of any wrongdoing after a lengthy investigation, Trevor was suspended by Commissioner Rob Manfred originally for 324 games. This number was later reduced and eventually Bauer was reinstated by an independent arbitrator during his appeal process. He was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers and has never appeared on a MLB mound since, signing with the aforementioned BayStars to begin his international career.

In the meantime, the Rockies have been bad on the mound. They had the worst team ERA in 2024 with a 5.47. The bullpen also blew 28 saves last year, with no one to turn to in high pressure 9th innings. As we are on the horizon of the 2025 season the Rockies do get a couple pieces back. German Marquez has been quoted at Spring Training as being healthy, with Antonio Senzatela also returning late last season. Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber seem ready to go as well. All things point to Ryan Feltner as the last guy to round out the rotation. Even with a healthy rotation, Bauer would still be an asset in Denver.

Bauer’s Benefits

It’s no secret the Rockies have had back to back 100 loss seasons and doesn’t seem interested in spending money to acquire players to make a push in the National League West. They did sign Thairo Estrada and Kyle Farmer, while giving a minor league deal to former first rounder Keston Hiura but outside of these moves it has been a relatively quiet offseason. With a bottom third payroll in baseball, with all other NL West rivals being in the top half, the Rockies can spend the veteran’s minimum of $760,000 to get the former Cy young Winner pitching in thin air. Bauer has stated on social media that he is willing to play for $0 and has stated that would be a $50 million value for zero bucks.

Trevor Bauer also has a massive social media following with nearly 600K followers on X and nearly 1 million followers on YouTube. He is undoubtedly the most popular non-major league player in the world right now and would bring a huge following to the Colorado Rockies, the perennial bottom feeders of the NL West. Merchandise sales and streaming numbers would increase which leads to more money in the Rockies pockets, especially on the veteran’s minimum Bauer is willing to play for. Before his suspension, Bauer was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers and has proven he is still dominating elsewhere. Why not take a chance?

This is why you don’t take a chance

Even though Trevor Bauer was never found guilty for his 2021 incident, as a result he has been extremely outspoken against Major League Baseball and Commissioner Rob Manfred. He has criticized the way Manfred runs MLB especially when it comes to losing interest amongst the younger generation by holding most media content instead of letting fans experience it. He also has expressed ending “Blackouts” and allowing in-market fans to watch their favorite team. These rants and opinions are plenty and for good reason. The sport only started gaining popularity after the plethora of rule changes we have seen the past two seasons and some fans being able to buy their team’s MLB.tv package last year, which ended blackouts for some teams. For example, Rockies.tv allowed us Rockies fans to watch games regardless of being in-market.

Bauer’s opinions also has some negativity to them amongst a certain demographic of fans. Teams may be looking at Trevor Bauer as a liability with the media. He proved this fact when discussing umpire checks for foreign substances in 2021, demonstrating how sticky a baseball can get with just rosin and a little bit of sweat live on ESPN. Most teams aren’t willing to deal with this type of straightforward opinions, especially from a player with as much influence as Bauer.

Just Take the Chance

Regardless of the negative facts Bauer could potentially bring to the Rockies, it doesn’t outweigh the reward. Bauer is as disciplined as they come and it can be seen on his Bauer Outage YouTube channel. He also has a chip on his shoulder. He’s out to prove something that he can still dominate and he also wants to avenge the incident of 2021. He was accused, acquitted, but yet he still isn’t on a Major League diamond. He has been shunned by all 30 teams and for what reason, negative publicity? In the interest of winning ball games Trevor Bauer is a complete asset. With a team struggling for pitching and not making any moves to address it, signing Bauer is low risk, high reward. Once the initial wave of the negative social media storm hits, and he gets back into a grove of playing high caliber baseball, the Rockies will once again have some level of pitching depth. Trevor Bauer deserves to be in the MLB, and the Rockies should be the ones to bring him back.