Top 5 free agent destinations for Trevor Bauer
Pick Analysis. AL. Los Angeles Angels. 2. player. Scouting Report. 102. West
Starting pitching is a long-running need for the Angels. They finished 25th in team ERA this year (5.09), with an offense that scored the ninth-most runs in baseball. Dylan Bundy looks like a keeper, with Andrew Heaney and Griffin Canning as promising pieces if they can stay healthy. But Shohei Ohtani’s future as a reliable pitcher is a big question mark, and the Angels could really use an ace.
Bauer went to college at UCLA, he went to high school in Santa Clarita, CA and he was born in North Hollywood. So maybe, just maybe, he is open to the idea of returning “home” to pitch.
The Angels are looking for a new GM after firing Billy Eppler, with Dave Dombrowski as a prominent rumored candidate. Hiring Dombrowski would show owner Arte Moreno’s cards clearly-“win now, with little or no regard for the future.” For a franchise that has made some missteps with big contracts, in concert with wasting Mike Trout’s prime, going all-in for next year or two actually seems like a reasonable plan.
Besides wanting to win, which is important, Bauer’s other priorities in free agency (relationships, money, the precise length of the contract?, etc.) are pretty unclear. But the Angels should be readying a nice multi-year offer, with an extra selling point of coming back to Southern California.