Trevor Bauer's Take On The Astros Cheating Scandal
It may be January and we may have our Super Bowl matchup set in stone, but this baseball offseason has been an all-timer with the Astros cheating scandal that will not be going away any time soon. With that, it seemed like perfect timing for Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer to hop on today’s Pardon My Take. The former Cleveland Indian discussed his personality on Twitter, drones, and all things trash can/buzzer gate, including his thoughts on what the reaction of the rest of the league might be when the season rolls around at the end of March:
Mr. Commenter: This morning, Buster Olney was saying that he thinks pitchers are going to start throwing at Astros batters next year. Have you thought about that?
Trevor Bauer: Well, I personally won’t play the Astros next year, unless we are facing the postseason. So, I won’t be doing that. I also don’t think that that’s the right way to handle things. Like, I mean, getting hit in the head or just hit in general is dangerous. I got hit with a 92 mile an hour line drive in 2018 and broke my shin.
Mr. Cat: From Altuve?
Trevor Bauer: No, it was the first baseman of the Chicago White Sox, Abreu. So, I mean, that was just 92 and it hit me in the very lower leg, and I missed six weeks. It’s dangerous. I never want to see people get thrown at. Unfortunately, I think that’s going to happen. Just given all the different personalities in the league and how strongly players feel about this issue. I’ve talked to I mean, I probably talked to 10 or more players yesterday and getting their thoughts and feelings on, you know, all different aspects of it. And people are not too happy.
Mr. Cat: Right. Because guys are probably like, hey, if we’re playing it straight up, they’re cheating. It’s bullshit. So last question I have about the Astros and everything that is going on here. So going forward, do you think… how many teams you think are like going to be caught up in all this stuff? How many teams do you think? How widespread is this thing?
Trevor Bauer: Well, I think that goes back to the question earlier about what is the line, right? It’s like first, I think we have to decide what the line is and then we can talk about who has crossed it and who hasn’t. It’s so hard to say. I don’t think it’s just the Astros, though. I think there’s other teams doing something similar or the same.
Mr. Cat: The Astros are just the team that everyone kind of knew about.
Trevor Bauer: I think that’s it. And also like they get a little bit of a bad reputation for how they treat people, you know? And again, I have to preface all this by saying I’m not an Astros employee. I’ve never played for them. I don’t know firsthand. You hear things I’ve talked about, you know, people talking about how they treat their employees or how they’re just different feelings and stuff. So when that’s the case, if something goes down, you become a target. I don’t know. It’s a black eye for baseball, though, for sure. I’m glad it’s getting cleaned up. Hopefully they get it all cleaned up and we can just move past it.
Mr. Cat: And go back to juicing the baseballs!
Trevor Bauer: Home runs are fine, right? Everyone loves home runs.
Mr. Cat: That’s the best part is like, don’t cheat in baseball, but baseball is choosing baseballs.
Mr. Commenter: So, out of the people that you’ve talked to around the league, what is the general sentiment in terms of the punishment that people would like to see happen?
Trevor Bauer: Oh, man. That varies so much. You know, some people like, oh, man, they really got hammered. Some people like, oh, that’s just a slap on the wrist. I think it kind of depends on the person’s personal level of involvement with it.
Mr. Commenter: I feel like, Clayton Kershaw… You know what? Here’s what we’ll do for Clayton Kershaw: I will remove one strike, one tally mark from the “Clayton Kershaw Can’t Pitch in the Postseason” chart that I keep at my desk.
Trevor Bauer: Man, poor Clayton. He gets such a bad rap.
Mr. Commenter: I know. It’s so unfortunate that it happened to him.
It’s definitely nice to hear an active player’s perspective on this historical chain of events. Although on an individual level, no matter what shenanigans the Astros were up to, Houston’s batters never really got the best of the UCLA grad, as hitters on that team are just .248 against Bauer. Regardless, the fallout from the players on the field this season sure is going to be interesting. Who is going to plunk who? Bauer said it best: given the different amount of players and personalities in the league, something juicy is going to start up sooner rather than later.
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