re: MLB Offseason Thread

Trevor Bauer is in trouble again

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Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer is what we extremely online people call “extremely online.” For those of you who, unlike me, still understand what it means to see sunlight and experience human contact, to be “extremely online” is to inculcate oneself to Internet culture, including humor. Bauer exemplified this last year when he went to arbitration with the Indians. He wanted to file for $6.9 million, but as Jeff Passan (then of Yahoo Sports) reported, the right-hander was warned that the figure was too high and could result in him losing his case. He then wanted to file for $6,420,969.69.

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Why 69? As any teenager can tell you, it references a sexual position and that’s funny stuff on the Internet. Why 420? Well, that references April 20, or 4/20, a day of celebration for marijuana enthusiasts. Bauer eventually settled on filing for $6.525 million – no reference to sex or drugs. Still needing to scratch the Internet humor itch, Bauer started “The 69 Days of Giving” in which he would donate $420.69 daily to a different charity. On the 69th and final day, he pledged to donate $69,420.69 to a secret charity. So, that gives you a bit of a picture of Bauer’s personality and sense of humor. We also know he’s a huge drone enthusiast and he’s been very critical of MLB’s arbitration system overall. He marches to the beat of his own drum.

That was mostly fine until two days ago when Bauer responded to a critic on Twitter. The critic, a baseball fan named Nikki, wrote of Bauer, “My new least favorite person in all sports,” tagging Bauer’s Twitter account (@BauerOutage). Bauer responded, “Welcome to the fan club” and included a kiss emoji. If that was the start and end of it, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But Bauer persisted, repeatedly going after her. Deadspin’s Laura Wagnercaptured a large quantity of Bauer’s tweet in an article on Monday, so check that out for the full context.

One of Bauer’s offenses was making a transphobic joke, which will need explaining for those who aren’t “extremely online.” Nikki wrote to Bauer, “Maybe you should act like the PROFESSIONAL you are, and like the 27 year old MAN you are, and not harass me for 14 hours. You are a horrible human.”

Bauer responded, “I identify as a 12 year old. This is 2019. You have to have empathy for my situation. Those are the rules”.

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Additionally, when responding to people, Bauer repeatedly put the blame on Nikki for starting the whole thing. Which is true, she did start it by criticizing him. But he didn’t have to respond and amplify the remark to 134,000 people. He needs to have a thicker skin and an ability to resist the urge to engage critics, of which he has many.

Why is Bauer’s behavior wrong? Simply put, it’s because there’s a power imbalance and Bauer exploited that to harass a woman, a baseball fan. Even after the online fracas with Bauer, Nikki has only 600 followers. Only a handful of people would go to bat for Nikki, but even a tiny percentage of Bauer’s 134,000 followers going after Nikki constitutes a gross amount of abuse. Let’s say that only 0.5 percent got involved. That’s still 670 people — more than Nikki’s entire follower count. It’s tough to get an actual count of just how many people were in Nikki’s mentions as a result of her interactions with Bauer, but a cursory search shows it’s quite a lot.

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LINK

He’s such a douche

Bauer is probably one of the most cerebral players in baseball when it comes to game preparation.

F Deadspin. Go Bauer...
Leave the drones alone during the season.

Grandal to Brewers

Looks like Trevor is #MAGA though. Earns him some good vibes w/that mates

End of competitive balance round B.

Braves have sat around while Mets & Nats get marketedly better. Wonder what they have up theit sleeve

I like JD if he can remain healthy but I’m not sure you can count on him

If they get 150 out of him and can add an impact SP they will be in a good spot