Trevor Bauer, the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner, has agreed to join the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the California resident announcing his move in a YouTube video on Friday.
Bauer and the Dodgers agree on a three-year $ 102 million deal with opt-outs after Years 1 and 2, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Bauer is expected to make $ 40 million by 2021 and $ 45 million by 2022, sources said.
Bauer, who has a notable online presence, appeared to tease his destiny earlier Friday by offering a giveaway for an autographed Dodgers hat on his website – though he also had several brief references to the New York Mets, believed to be the other is finalist, also on the site.
Sources told Passan that the Mets offered a higher total value than the Dodgers, but Los Angeles’ offering makes him the highest paid player in each of the next two seasons.
A 30-year-old right-hander, Bauer was the first reigning Cy Young Award winner to sign up for free agency since Greg Maddux in 1992.
A first-time free agent to play for the Cincinnati Reds last season with a $ 17 million deal that was $ 6.4 million in proportion, Bauer was one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball in 2020, winning 5-4 with a 1.73 ERA, a 0.79. WHIP, 100 strikeouts and 17 walks during the pandemic-shortened season. Opposing batters batted him .159, leading all Major League-pitchers. In addition to WHIP and ERA, Bauer led the NL in ERA-plus, which is adjusting for its butcher-friendly home margin, and hits per nine innings (5,055) in 2020.
He turned down a one-year $ 18.9 million qualifying offer from the Reds, who will receive a compensatory draft pick upon signing a new team.
Now Bauer joins a Dodgers rotation that was one of the best in the majors in 2020 and now has three former Cy Young winners in Bauer, Clayton Kershaw and David Price. Last season, the Dodgers took first place in WHIP and second in ERA, the opponent’s batting average and the opponent’s OPS.
Bauer’s arsenal includes a variety of throws, and he achieved great success with his cut fastball last season as he threw an NL high in two full game shutouts. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Bauer set up batters to knock them out in the outside half of the plate, leading the NL with 63 strikeouts while holding on to a .145 batting average at that site.
Off the mound, Bauer has voiced opinions and criticism on everything from Commissioner Rob Manfred to MLB-MLBPA negotiations to insinuating that Houston Astros pitchers applied substances to baseballs to increase spin speed. In 2018, Bauer was fined for throwing a baseball from the mound over the midfield fence before being removed from a game. In 2016, he was scratched from Game 2 of the American League Championship Series after cutting the tip of his finger while performing maintenance on his drone.
The Reds acquired Bauer in a trade with the Cleveland Indians on the July 2019 deadline. He made 10 starts after the deal that year, 2-5 with a 6.39 ERA for the Reds.
In nine seasons since breaking into the majors in 2012 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Bauer is 75-64 with 1,279 strikeouts and a 3.90 ERA. His only All-Star roster came in 2018.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.