Right handed ace Trevor Bauer has been the No. 1 free agent on the market since it opened almost two months ago, although not much has been said about the type of contract it seeks. Now, however, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets that teams interested in Bauer “suggest” that he is looking for a five to six year deal worth $ 36 million to $ 40 million per season.
The always outspoken Bauer, unsurprisingly, entered the conversation, answering Heyman (in Twitter): “I’m learning a lot about my free agency from your tweets!” While Bauer and agent Rachel Luba can hope to control the flow of information about the 2020 NL Cy Young winner’s free agency, this may be impossible given the number of staff on board alongside the conversations.
There were some comings and goings between Heyman and Luba / Bauer on Twitter. However, neither Luba nor Bauer chose to directly address Heyman’s report.
At the end of the day, the question of Bauer’s asking price was largely overlooked. And leaving aside the punctual exchange between the parties involved, this is normal for any player / agent combination when reporting on the quote surface. It is not in the interest of Bauer or Luba to make an educated guess about contractual expectations. Luba refused to do so in previous appearances on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, as was to be expected. Nothing about it, except the accusations on social media, is atypical.