More Reasons For The Mets To Sign Trevor Bauer

Pitching is the name of the game, and one name the Mets have been strongly linked to is Trevor Bauer. Bauer, along with Jacob deGrom at the top of the rotation, would be a lethal combination.

Though analytics have redefined the value of a starter, leading to moments such as Blake Snell being pulled in the sixth inning in the World Series, Bauer for the Mets could be the start to building a championship team.

I will begin with the Dodgers of the early 1960s with Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Claude Osteen. Also throw in those “Amazin Mets” of 1969 with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Nolan Ryan.

Point to the pitching staffs led by Bob Gibson, Curt Schilling. Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. The Atlanta Braves, led by Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavin, won 14 consecutive division titles from 1991 to 2005. The 2019 World Series champion Nationals had a rotation led by Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, and Patrick Corbin.

The point is, the record books show the immense value of starting pitching over the years.

“The Dodgers with Buehler, Kershaw, Urias May, Gonsolin and Gonzalez present a formidable challenge to any club trying to unseat them as World Series champions,” a baseball insider said. “It’s not going to be easy to do that.”

And there is no dispute that injuries can also impact a rotation. Thus, a deep rotation is significant, as evidenced by the last two championships of the Nationals and the Dodgers. 

So envision Bauer, deGrom, and a healthy Noah Syndergaard. Factor in, though, the uncertainty of when Syndergaard will be able to fully recover from Tommy John surgery.

“Syndergaard has been my poster child in recent years,” said another insider. “Throwing his first pitch at 99 on the black and never throwing back.” 

So return to a reasonable and strong case for the Mets to sign Bauer. The right-hander’s success is based on his velocity, which allowed for a greater margin of error. Scouts say that Bauer’s command was also a key factor that led to his 2020 NL Cy Young Award.

“A right-hander is usually going for the jugular power, instead of mixing and eliciting weaker contact,” a scout said. “Along with launch angle, this has caused his strikeout rate to soar, surpassing hits in number.”

And the power arm has command of a quality repertoire with pitchability. Those types of arms become your top rotation aces such as Scherzer, Strasburg, Veranda, Cole, Yu Darvish, Zack Greinke, Shane Bieber, Bauer and deGrom.

The Mets, unsurprisingly, are in need of that. So when Steve Cohen says they are looking at all possibilities, there is every belief that Bauer is a priority on the list. 

“Starting pitchers need to learn to go deep into games,” said another insider when asked about how analytics are changing the strategy. “They need to navigate the ebb and flows of the game.”

Bauer and deGrom would certainly be a duo that could navigate those ebbs and flows. The consensus of insiders is that the Mets have the resources to sign Bauer. The question is, does he want to pitch in the spotlight of New York?

At the end of the day, good starting pitching is the name of the game, and Bauer would strengthen the Mets’ rotation immensely.