CLEVELAND — So here we had the complete Trevor Bauer Experience on a perfect summer afternoon at the ballpark.
Walks off the mound after three measly hits, a lonely Kansas City run, 12 strikeouts and 127 pitches.
Tips his cap to an appreciative crowd. Then, defying lip readers, screams into his glove.
Mixed messages are often the case with Bauer. After a dominating performance you’d think would leave him thrilled, his emotional ceiling can often be described as happy-ish. Sometimes he’s unusually upbeat when the results suggest otherwise.
So what would it be this time?
“I felt like myself after about two months of feeling like somebody else,” said Bauer, whose muffled rebuke involved the two runners Nick Goody inherited in the seventh.
“I haven’t been able to move the way I want to move,” he said. “I’ve had some physical limitations…but I feel good about where I am at this time.”
Bauer won’t discuss what’s ailed him. Manager Terry Francona dodged the question, too, saying, “Is it OSHA?” before correcting himself and landing on HIPAA.
“I thought from the first pitch on he looked so much more like (himself),” Francona said following the 5-3 win over the Royals that ended a terrific 5-1 homestand in their June turnaround. “There were periods where he almost felt too good.”
Bauer’s 127th pitch clocked 97 miles an hour, he pointed out. So if you’re wondering why a pitcher who hasn’t felt like himself much recently still logged a season-high pitch count, one, his stuff was really good from start to finish; two, the bullpen was a reliever short — closer Brad Hand.
“The fight I have is that I feel responsible for his career,” Francona said of Bauer’s pitch-count management. “You have one arm. He fights me to stay out there. Curt Schilling used to do that (in Boston). I admire that…but I want him to pitch for 15 years.”
The Indians and Bauer needed a few years — it only seems like 15 — to reach their current comfort level.
Wondering how long the relationship will last might be considered premature halfway through the 2019 season with Bauer a year and a half from free agency.
But nothing is simple with him or them. The Indians are still in the process of declaring themselves trustworthy playoff contenders. And Bauer has already declared himself a hired gun who promises to sign one-year deals throughout the rest of his career.
That would seem to leave the Indians with two obvious options. Trade him now or trade him next year.
Big payroll teams chasing division titles and World Series dreams will come calling for Bauer if they haven’t already. Bauer, who beat the Indians in arbitration for $6.5 million in 2018 and $13 million this year, could go the same route in 2020 and possibly command close to $18-20 million if Wednesday’s performance becomes more the norm through the summer.
My guess is if they get a trade package that includes an organization’s top major-league ready prospect, they trade Bauer and bet on rotation depth and the (mid-August?) return of Corey Kluber to keep them in the playoff chase. Or at least they should.
Bauer thinks he was a freak injury away from winning the Cy Young last year. Thursday’s win made his record 6-6 but you could see last year's dominance on display.
When his name was mentioned in trade chatter over the winter, he matter of factly said it made more sense value-wise to trade him next season. Not sure that’s still the case as the trade deadline nears.
Bauer represented the best trade value among Indians starters entering the season. And he certainly does now after what’s happened to Kluber and Carlos Carrasco.
So what's a mid-market team to do?
Barring the Indians overtaking the Twins by the trade deadline, a clear path ahead isn’t likely to present itself either.
For now, the Indians owe it to themselves and their fan base to make the most of the schedule turning soft and to see how much ground they can swallow in running down the Twins over the next month. Bauer is a big part of that.
If you think it's a simple decision to keep him or trade him, you're kidding yourself.
There’s nothing simple about Bauer's time with the Indians. Never has been. And that won't change anytime soon.
