MLB Rumors: Braves Boras disadvantage, Alex Cora's future, Pirates-Bauer

MLB Rumors: Pirates showing no interest in Trevor Bauer

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a pretty disappointing offseason with the best players they've brought in being guys like Aroldis Chapman, Martin Perez, and Marco Gonzales. They're probably a bit better on paper than the 76-86 team that they were in 2023, but when taking into account improvements that teams within their division like the Cardinals and Reds have made, they might be stuck closer to the bottom of the NL Central.

An area of weakness for the Pirates is their starting rotation. After Mitch Keller, things look incredibly dire. With that in mind, Jason Mackey of Post-Gazette Sports reported that the Pirates are looking to bolster their rotation, but a popular player will not be their solution. Trevor Bauer will not be coming to Pittsburgh.

Mackey links the Pirates to free agents like Domingo German and Noah Syndergaard and even an intriguing trade candidate in Edward Cabrera but he vehemently shut down any sort of chance that existed for Bauer to make his MLB return in a Pirates uniform.

Bauer played in Japan last season, as no MLB team signed him with allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence surrounding him. Bauer has settled these matters since then but remains without interest from MLB teams. He pitched well, but the NPB competition is a pretty sizable step down from MLB.

Bauer has made it clear that he's willing to pitch for the league minimum in an incentive-based deal. Still, MLB teams will see the PR risk of signing the former Cy Young-winner, which could deter most -- if not all -- of the league's 30 teams to stay away. If nothing else, it appears clear that the Pirates won't be the organization to change that.