Sure, Trevor Bauer could very well be laughing his way to the bank after signing a three-year, $102 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which will pay him an MLB-record $40 million and $45 million in each of the next two seasons.
But at least he portrayed some remorse in how the last hours of his free-agency saga were handled — particularly in getting the hopes of Mets fans everywhere up.
The Mets themselves reportedly believed they would sign the 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner just hours before his announcement Friday to join the Dodgers, per Joel Sherman. Meanwhile, Mets fans were worked into a frenzy when Bauer’s website, TrevorBauer.com, began displaying Mets-themed merchandise, including t-shirts and a signed hat giveaway.
Late Sunday night, Bauer took to Twitter for a 10-message thread apologizing to Mets fans for what happened.
“Mets fans, I owe you an explanation and apology. My intention this entire offseason was to engage with fans in ways that made the offseason and free-agent process more interesting.
I woke up early on Friday not knowing what my decision would be and spent the next five hours on the phone with my representation team trying to figure that out. I wasn’t on social media or my website, as my marketing and digital team was managing both at the time, so I didn’t see what happened until after the fact.
I’ve taken some time over the last two days to figure it out, and I take full responsibility for the mistakes outlined below.
In the spirit of transparency, here’s what happened: Throughout the free agency process, my team prepared marketing materials for multiple organizations, as I didn’t know where or when I would sign.
In order to be prepared for a moment that could materialize very quickly, we had uploaded many of those to my website on the back-end. The plan was not to have those pages live until a decision had been made, which is obviously not what happened. That was the first mistake.
The plan was to release a link to my website and the appropriate materials via linktree on my Instagram page once my decision was finalized. Unfortunately, that link was posted in error well before any decision had been made. That was the second mistake.
Understandably, the link was quickly discovered and began to spread on social media. The resulting confusion is understandable and regrettable. My intention was never to mislead your fan base, nor was it to troll you in any way.
I had a fantastic time engaging with fans from many teams over the last few months and Mets fans priced to be as passionate and energetic a bunch as any, so I offer my sincerest apologies for how the events Friday played out.
I have no control over false media reports stating a contract was in place or that terms had been agreed to, but I do accept responsibility for the errors above. It was an embarrassing and emotional moment for me.“
The Mets offered Bauer more money — believed to be three years at $105 million — to join a pitching staff of Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco, Marcus Stroman, and later on, Noah Syndergaard.
However, the 30-year-old right-hander opted to sign with the Dodgers in his home state of California, creating one of the most fearsome trio of pitchers in the game alongside Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw.
