Trevor Bauer, winner of the Cy National Award for the 2020 National League, has agreed to join the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the California native announcing his move in a YouTube video on Friday.
Bauer and the Dodgers agree to a three-year, $ 102 million deal that has no options after years 1 and 2, ESPN sources told Jeff Passan. According to sources, Bauer will earn $ 40 million in 2021 and $ 45 million in 2022.
Bauer, who has a notable online presence, appeared to provoke his destination Friday earlier by offering a gift for a Dodgers-signed hat on his website, though he also had several brief references to the New York Mets, which is believed to be the other finalist. on the site as well.
Sources told Passan that the Mets offer a higher overall value than the Dodgers, but the Los Angeles offer will make him the highest paid player in each of the next two seasons.
Bauer, a 30-year-old right-hander, was the first Cy Young Award winner to enter free agency since Greg Maddux in 1992.
The first free agent to play for the Cincinnati Reds last season with a $ 17 million deal prorated to $ 6.4 million, Bauer was one of baseball’s most dominant pitchers in 2020, going 5-4 with an ERA of 1.73, a 0.79 WHIP, 100 bouts of attack and 17 walks during the pandemic shortening season. Opponent batters clashed against him.159, leading all major league pitchers. In addition to WHIP and ERA, Bauer led the NL in ERA +, which adapts to its home-friendly park with hits, and hits allowed for nine innings (5,055) in 2020.
He turned down a $ 18.9 million one-year qualifying offer from the Reds, who will get a compensatory draft selection, roughly number 60, with the signing of a new team. The Dodgers will lose their second-highest pick in the July amateur draft and $ 500,000 in international signing bonuses.
Bauer joins a Dodgers rotation that was one of the best of the majors in 2020 and now has three former Cy Young winners Bauer, Clayton Kershaw and David Price. Last season, the Dodgers ranked first in WHIP and second in ERA, the opponent’s batting average and the opponent’s PAHO.
Bauer’s arsenal includes a wide variety of pitches, and he found great success with his fast-cutting ball as he pitched two shutouts in the NL last season. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Bauer set up batters to eliminate them in the outer half of the plate, leading the NL with 63 attacks while keeping the batters at a batting average of .145 at that location.
Outside the mound, Bauer has expressed opinions and criticisms about everything from commissioner Rob Manfred to the MLB-MLBPA negotiations to insinuating that the Houston Astros pitchers applied substances to basketballs to increase spin speed. In 2018, Bauer was fined for throwing a baseball from the mound above the center field fence before being removed from a game. In 2016, he was struck out of the second game of the American League Championship Series after cutting off his fingertip while doing drone maintenance.
The Reds acquired Bauer in a trade with the Cleveland Indians until the July 2019 deadline. He made 10 starts after the deal that year, going from 2 to 5 with an ERA of 6.39 for the Reds.
In nine seasons since entering competition with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012, Bauer had a 75-64 lead with 1,279 attacks and an ERA of 3.90. His only All-Star selection came in 2018.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.