NEWSLETTER
Just what every team wants to hear: I was so committed to you guys that I actually almost signed with another team because of a website error.
Trevor Bauer’s protracted and dramatic free agency concluded last month with his own announcement that he was signing with the Dodgers. In the run up to that announcement, however, it looked like he was going to the Mets, both because the rumors sure seemed to suggest it, and because his own website had published a merchandise link that indicated he was choosing the Mets.
That was just a goof, and Bauer shortly thereafter chose the Dodgers. But his agent says Bauer almost wound up choosing the Mets in that moment because of the screw-up:
Trevor Bauer was apparently going to choose the Mets over the Dodgers because of the merchandise issue on his website.
Then, he went for a walk and chose the Dodgers instead https://t.co/BSjsA3TT6U pic.twitter.com/F6IRxLpk3s
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 3, 2021
I mean, this is just bonkers:
“I started getting screenshots at one point of a Linktree thing with the ‘LFGM.’ I don’t have any say control or anything to do with that stuff. That’s all Trevor’s marketing,” [agent Rachel] Luba said on the latest Barstool Sports podcast, Starting 9.
“We’re dealing with this, so I just shot off a text to Trevor. I was like, ‘Hey, have you seen this? What is this?’ And he was like, ‘What the f—k?’
“So we get on the phone with him and he was just like, ‘It’s f—king over, I’m done. Just call the Dodgers, it’s done. It’s going to be the other team. The Mets.’”
Luba added that a lot of Bauer’s decision had to do with not disappointing the fanbase after that mishap.
“I’ve known Trevor for a really long time, and I know I just like didn’t feel right about it,” she explained. “So I called him back, I said, ‘Listen, I need you to be honest with me. How you reacted just now, did that have anything to do with the merch thing going up and what just happened there?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, but I can’t do that to a fanbase. The decision has been made.’”
Luba then explained how she suggested Bauer just go for a walk, leave his phone and contemplate what he was saying because she knew the “life-changing decision” he was making. After the walk of thought, Bauer returned and told Luba he wanted to go to the Dodgers.
Look, I get not wanting to disappoint a fan base, but making a $100 million decision and potentially where you will spend the next three years of your life because some company accidentally published a link? That doesn’t exactly scream “I specifically desperately wanted to be a Dodger.”
Maybe that’s obvious, anyway, given how Bauer’s free agency played out. It seemed clear from the jump that while fit mattered, setting certain free agency price tag bench marks was at least as important. So if the money was close – and it reportedly was – maybe Bauer really was just about at a coin flip, and choosing the Mets because of the merch screw-up would’ve been six of one, half-dozen of the other.
I’m just saying that if I’m a Dodgers fan, I hear this story and I think … oh … ok … glad you … changed your mind?
