Indians: Despite his Cy Young win, trading Trevor Bauer was right call

Trevor Bauer was traded by the Indians to the Cinncinati Reds, where he won the NL Cy Young, a move that was still the right call.

There was a time when the Cleveland Indians called the 2020 NL Cy Young winner and the 2020 AL Cy Young winner teammates. That all ended on July 31, 2019, however, when the Indians traded future NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer to the Cinncinati Reds.

The Indians traded Bauer to the Reds in a three-team deal that involved the San Diego Padres. The move saw Bauer go to the Reds, with the Padres getting much-ballyhooed outfield prospect Taylor Trammell, and the Indians getting back outfielders Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes, while also getting back starting pitcher prospect Scott Moss and reliever Logan Allen.

In 2020, Bauer, and Indians ace Shane Bieber both won their respective leagues Cy Young award, given to the top pitcher in the National and American Leagues. This got many fans wondering about an Indians rotation that had both Bieber and Bauer in it. That’s a fool’s errand, as trading Bauer away was the right call.

Firstly, look at Bauer’s stats, he’s simply not as consistent as others in the league. He’s only broken 200 innings pitched once in his career and has a career ERA of 3.90 while only twice has been below a 4.00 ERA in his career. In fact, in his first 10 games with the Reds, Bauer had a 6.39 ERA. There was no expectation that Bauer was ever going to be a Cy Young pitcher.

Secondly, his attitude is among the worst in baseball. Maybe he’s just a punk and likes anarchy, or maybe he’s a starved diva, dying for attention. Maybe he’s just an agitator who likes making people made. It’s even possible he’s just a decent guy who’s willing to make people mad for what he sees as a better tomorrow. Though, he’s also the guy who messed up his finger and took himself out of a playoff series because of a “drone accident”.

Lastly and most importantly, the trade set up the Indians for success. They got a player in Moss who’s going to look to start for the Indians in 2021, and a reliever in Allen who’s going to be a candidate to take over closer duties in the bullpen. Let’s not forget the huge bat that came in the form of Reyes, who was the only other run producer in the Indians lineup behind AL MVP finalist Jose Ramirez.

Plus he wasn’t re-signing after 2020 with the Indians anyway.

While it’s fun to reminisce and think about what could have been, it’s best not to be blinded by recency bias. Bauer was a pain, and the best thing he ever did was bring us back a haul of talent to build with. Congratulations to him and the Reds, of course. They did just win their first-ever Cy Young award after all, but Tribe fans would be wise to remember all the headaches that came with him.