On Wednesday, March 4th, 2020 the Cincinnati Reds’ starting pitcher, Trevor Bauer, and Major League Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, met in order to discuss a variety of topics. Bauer expressed to the media that the meeting between the two of them was “very productive”, and hopefully it cleared up any disagreements between the two parties.

Bauer has been well known for publicly bashing the MLB commissioner especially recently. He criticized Manfred for the manner in which baseball’s commissioner handled the electronic sign stealing scandal as well as increasing the number of teams that make the postseason from 10 to 14 ball clubs. He had also called Manfred “a joke” on twitter not too long ago.

The right hander seems to have gained respect for Manfred for agreeing to meet with Bauer to discuss ideas on how to improve Major League Baseball. Bauer wanted to express ideas such as not worrying about the length of baseball games, and how the league could better market its players.

Problems Facing the MLB:

Major League Baseball has been trying to come up with ways to combat issues like lower attendance to ball games, the increase in the time of baseball games, and the decreasing viewership on broadcasted contests. With people especially younger individuals losing interest in baseball they are trying to come up with ways to make one of America’s favorite past times more appealing to an audience that has a very low attention span.

I agree with Trevor Bauer. I think that the MLB should stop trying to make changes to the game in order to try an appeal to people that are not interested in the great game that has been around for a very long time. Instead they need to work on promotions and all around access to the game and its players.

 Bauer’s Career Regular Season Statistics:

Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W Awards
2012 21 ARI NL 1 2 .333 6.06 4 4 0 0 0 0 16.1 14 13 11 2 13 0 17 1 0 2 77 69 5.18 1.653 7.7 1.1 7.2 9.4 1.31
2013 22 CLE AL 1 2 .333 5.29 4 4 0 0 0 0 17.0 15 11 10 3 16 0 11 1 0 1 81 73 7.05 1.824 7.9 1.6 8.5 5.8 0.69
2014 23 CLE AL 5 8 .385 4.18 26 26 0 0 0 0 153.0 151 76 71 16 60 4 143 11 0 6 663 94 4.01 1.379 8.9 0.9 3.5 8.4 2.38
2015 24 CLE AL 11 12 .478 4.55 31 30 1 1 0 0 176.0 152 90 89 23 79 1 170 5 1 7 744 95 4.33 1.313 7.8 1.2 4.0 8.7 2.15
2016 25 CLE AL 12 8 .600 4.26 35 28 3 1 0 0 190.0 179 96 90 20 70 1 168 9 0 3 811 106 3.99 1.311 8.5 0.9 3.3 8.0 2.40
2017 26 CLE AL 17 9 .654 4.19 32 31 1 0 0 0 176.1 181 84 82 25 60 0 196 5 1 3 749 109 3.88 1.367 9.2 1.3 3.1 10.0 3.27
2018 27 CLE AL 12 6 .667 2.21 28 27 1 0 0 1 175.1 134 51 43 9 57 2 221 9 0 12 717 196 2.44 1.089 6.9 0.5 2.9 11.3 3.88 AS,CYA-6,MVP-22
2019 28 TOT MLB 11 13 .458 4.48 34 34 0 1 1 0 213.0 184 118 106 34 82 0 253 19 0 10 911 104 4.34 1.249 7.8 1.4 3.5 10.7 3.09
2019 28 CLE AL 9 8 .529 3.79 24 24 0 1 1 0 156.2 127 76 66 22 63 0 185 14 0 8 664 124 4.15 1.213 7.3 1.3 3.6 10.6 2.94
2019 28 CIN NL 2 5 .286 6.39 10 10 0 0 0 0 56.1 57 42 40 12 19 0 68 5 0 2 247 71 4.85 1.349 9.1 1.9 3.0 10.9 3.58
8 Yrs 70 60 .538 4.04 194 184 6 3 1 1 1117.0 1010 539 502 132 437 8 1179 60 2 44 4753 109 3.92 1.295 8.1 1.1 3.5 9.5 2.70
162 Game Avg. 13 11 .538 4.04 35 33 1 1 0 0 201  182 97 90 24 79 1 212 11 0 8 855 109 3.92 1.295 8.1 1.1 3.5 9.5 2.70
CLE (7 yrs) 67 53 .558 3.89 180 170 6 3 1 1 1044.1 939 484 451 118 405 8 1094 54 2 40 4429 113 3.85 1.287 8.1 1.0 3.5 9.4 2.70
ARI (1 yr) 1 2 .333 6.06 4 4 0 0 0 0 16.1 14 13 11 2 13 0 17 1 0 2 77 69 5.18 1.653 7.7 1.1 7.2 9.4 1.31
CIN (1 yr) 2 5 .286 6.39 10 10 0 0 0 0 56.1 57 42 40 12 19 0 68 5 0 2 247 71 4.85 1.349 9.1 1.9 3.0 10.9 3.58
AL (7 yrs) 67 53 .558 3.89 180 170 6 3 1 1 1044.1 939 484 451 118 405 8 1094 54 2 40 4429 113 3.85 1.287 8.1 1.0 3.5 9.4 2.70
NL (2 yrs) 3 7 .300 6.32 14 14 0 0 0 0 72.2 71 55 51 14 32 0 85 6 0 4 324 71 4.92 1.417 8.8 1.7 4.0 10.5 2.66

Bauer’s Career Playoff Statistics:

Year Age Tm Lg Series Rslt Opp W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W WPA
2016 25 CLE AL ALDS W BOS 0 0 5.79 1 1 0 0 0 0 4.2 6 3 3 2 0 0 6 0 0 0 19 1.286 11.6 3.9 0.0 11.6 -0.05
2016 25 CLE AL ALCS W TOR 0 0 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 4 3.000 0.0 0.0 27.0 13.5 0.50 0.01
2016 25 CLE AL WS L CHC 0 2 .000 5.40 3 2 1 0 0 0 8.1 12 5 5 1 2 0 10 0 0 0 38 1.680 13.0 1.1 2.2 10.8 5.00 -0.15
2017 26 CLE AL ALDS L NYY 1 1 .500 0.00 2 2 0 0 0 0 8.1 6 4 0 0 3 1 11 0 0 1 35 1.080 6.5 0.0 3.2 11.9 3.67 0.07
2018 27 CLE AL ALDS L HOU 0 1 .000 6.75 3 0 0 0 0 0 4.0 7 4 3 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 20 2.000 15.8 2.3 2.3 9.0 4.00 -0.44
3 Yrs (5 Series) 1 4 .200 3.81 10 6 1 0 0 0 26.0 31 16 11 4 8 1 32 0 0 1 116 1.500 10.7 1.4 2.8 11.1 4.00 -0.55
3 ALDS 1 2 .333 3.18 6 3 0 0 0 0 17.0 19 11 6 3 4 1 21 0 0 1 74 1.353 10.1 1.6 2.1 11.1 5.25 -0.41
1 ALCS 0 0 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 4 3.000 0.0 0.0 27.0 13.5 0.50 0.01
1 WS 0 2 .000 5.40 3 2 1 0 0 0 8.1 12 5 5 1 2 0 10 0 0 0 38 1.680 13.0 1.1 2.2 10.8 5.00 -0.15

Media Statements:

 “I’ve been publicly critical of Rob Manfred before, but I have to give him props. He said he’d meet with any players who had further questions and he was a man of his word this morning. We had a very productive meeting about a wide range of topics,” Trevor Bauer stated.

 “It was an inside story that I can’t tell you guys, but just having fun, joking around,” says Bauer.

 “It wasn’t team-specific,” Bauer explained. “I did it a couple times last season in games. There are a lot of interesting outcomes from it, psychologically and competitively. Spring training is time to work on things.”

 “Trevor’s not too fond of it. so he figured he’s going to try something new this season and he’s going to start telling the batters what’s coming,” Derek Dietrich expressed. “That way there’s no ifs, ands or buts about what’s going on, just here it comes, try to hit it.”

 “You never know,” Dietrich replied. “Trevor’s always going to do something nuts. We enjoy him.”

 “I’m not surprised it blew up on social media,” says Bauer. “Derek dumped a bunch of gasoline on that fire, which I thought was pretty funny. It’s good for baseball overall.”