Top 5 free agent destinations for Trevor Bauer
Scouting Report. 3. player. Pick Analysis. NL. Central. Cincinnati Reds. 61
The Reds have said they will do everything they can to keep Bauer, and he has said he feels like they are a team he can win with. Relationships with pitching coordinator Kyle Boddy (who Bauer has worked with at the Driveline training facility) and pitching coach Derek Johnson, who was Reds’ rotation mate Sonny Gray’s pitching coach at Vanderbilt and has played a clear role in Grays’s career revival, may help bring Bauer back to Cincinnati.
The big question is if the Reds can compete with the other offers Bauer is sure to get. A big average salary ($20-$30 million?) on a one or two-year deal might be what it takes to get it done, and the shorter deal still seems to fit what Bauer wants most.
This side of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the NL Central will be wide open again in 2021. The Reds were easy to advance as the favorite to win the division looking to 2020, before a short season changed the equation everywhere. A rebound from some key offensive players will be critical next year, and running it back with a good starting rotation obviously includes bringing Bauer back. The Reds should be willing to make a significant offer, and leave it to Bauer to turn it down.