We don’t know exactly what happened between Trevor Bauer and Lindsey Hill, the woman who made the most noteworthy assault allegations against the 2020 NL Cy Young winner. We know that he and she ultimately dropped dueling civil lawsuits without any money changing hands between them. We know that the evidence he released after those lawsuits were dropped painted a very different picture than the prevailing narrative of events before that release. We know that Bauer sued for and received a note of clarification on an article The Athletic posted about the events. Was there inaccurate coverage of the incident? Yes. Did that coverage hurt public perception of Bauer? Yes. Even so, gray areas remain.
The thing about Trevor Bauer, though, is that even if you remove the Lindsey Hill case from the equation, and even if you remove his other three accusers, at least one of whom* testified to Major League Baseball during its investigation into Bauer…you still might not want to sign him, if you’re an MLB team?
It’s not just the alleged assaults.
Undoubtedly, the alleged assaults and the expected public backlash are playing a role in Bauer remaining unsigned. But you know what else is probably playing a role? Trevor Bauer throwing that ball over the fence. Trevor Bauer cutting his finger during the World Series because he was working on his drones. Trevor Bauer’s enormous history of getting Mad Online. Trevor Bauer was notorious enough even before the assault allegations that when he made his Dodgers spring training debut, a good share of the local coverage centered around his personal volatility.
There’s also the pine tar. Trevor Bauer did win the 2020 NL Cy Young. He won it, though, in conjunction with a dramatic increase in his spin rate, one which came after he spent multiple seasons blowing the whistle on the widespread use of “sticky stuff.” Did Trevor Bauer use sticky stuff in 2020? We don’t know, but that situation doesn’t appear all that gray.
What you have in Trevor Bauer, then, is a pitcher with a 3.79 career ERA who is now three years into his 30s, the decade in which baseball players traditionally decline due to age. That pitcher’s greatest achievement was linked by many to his use of sticky substances which have now been more effectively outlawed by Major League Baseball. That pitcher was a headache for his employers well before the assault allegations which drove him from the league, a wariness-inducing iconoclast even before he was drafted who never mellowed out. Say the assault allegations were all 100% false, each definitively proven to be an attempt at framing or extortion…would teams really want Trevor Bauer?
The assault allegations remain the main issue for Bauer. We’re not trying to deny that. But he was always a volatile dude.
*It’s possible all three testified. I’m not sure how to interpret the wording of reporting like this.
Target Field’s Target
In a dramatic pivot towards fun, Davy Andrews posted a deep dive today examining whether anybody’s ever hit a baseball onto the Target logo on the back of the mound at Target Field. We won’t spoil the thrill for you all, but as someone who lived down the street from Target Field for a couple years: They really should be making a bigger use of targets.
The Bears Are Getting Softer
It’s a big week for Chicago stadium talk. The White Sox released some renderings of what the South Loop site could look like. Kevin Warren talked about the dome.
Warren didn’t really talk about the dome. He only mentioned it. Reportedly. In a letter to season ticket holders. He reportedly told season ticket holders that although the new stadium’s location remains up in the air, the air will not be allowed inside the stadium once it’s built. It’s going to be a dome, and it’s not going to be a retractable one.
There are two relevant histories we should share here. The first is Kevin Warren’s.
Kevin Warren used to help run the Vikings. While he was their chief administrative officer, they began construction on U.S. Bank Stadium. While he was COO, they opened it. Its two greatest moments so far, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, have been 1) Stefon Diggs’s touchdown in the 2018 Divisional Round, before the Eagles punked the Vikings in Philadelphia, and 2) Aaron Rodgers getting hurt earlier that season, enabling the Vikings’ historic run to finishing as the third or fourth-best team in the NFL. Before Warren’s stadium was built, the Vikings could at least point to the Metrodome as being janky enough to justify a name as tough as “Vikings.” Afterwards, they were not only losers, but losers with a comically cushy place of work.
Warren left the Vikings in the summer of 2019 to become the Big Ten commissioner. During his stint as commissioner, he oversaw zero national championships in football and was instead best known for his Covid approach, one which consisted of trying to look noble by canceling the 2020 season earliest only to eventually follow suit when other conferences made it work. This is mostly coincidence, but immediately upon Warren’s departure, a Big Ten team won a national championship by being outrageously big and strong and tough in the trenches.
The second is that of the Bears and their stadium.
The Bears used to play at Wrigley Field, with occasional games played at Soldier Field when they wanted a bigger crowd. In 1971, after the AFL and NFL merged, the Bears moved into Soldier Field full-time.
Soldier Field was, for the first thirty years of its partnership with the Bears, a very Bears stadium, but in the good way. Historic. Iconic. Stony and noble, named and decorated to honor the troops after World War I. Cold. Brutal. An NFC North football stadium.
Beginning in the late 1980s, Soldier Field’s future with the Bears began to be in jeopardy. Alternative sites for a stadium started popping up in the news. Michael McCaskey bought real estate in the suburbs. Eventually, in 2001, the Bears got the Chicago Park District to bend to its will. The result was a disaster. It looked like a UFO had landed inside the stadium. It still does. The renovation was so bad that Soldier Field lost its National Historic Landmark designation. The Bears and Chicago’s government combined to kill history.
Today, Soldier Field is a pain in the ass to get to, a sad reminder on the outside of more glorious days, and a fine stadium once inside. A little small, but that can be endearing.
Where are we going with all of this?
First of all, while having a spectacular dome like U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis could help Chicago host better concerts and host a Super Bowl, there’s no reason to think that the city of Chicago and its NFL franchise are capable of building a good dome. Whatever the Bears do, it will be a disaster. Count that double if the city of Chicago is involved.
Second, Kevin Warren’s got a wimpy history. He took what little toughness remained from the Vikings. He presided over the most academia-focused era in the Big Ten’s history. Now, he’s taking what little grit remains with the Chicago Bears and replacing it with glitter.
You know which NFC North team wins championships?
The one who still plays outside.
Nick Saban and Professional Wrestling
News broke yesterday that Nick Saban is joining College Gameday. We can only hope that this bolsters his friendship with Pat McAfee and leads to Saban breaking a chair over Paul Finebaum’s head at WrestleMania 45.
Etc.
Last NITe, toNITe:
- Villanova declining to shoot before the buzzer last NITe in Cincinnati was everything we could ask to see from a team trying to make the NIT despite having no business making the NIT. They’re ready, folks.
- Smaller bits: NC State’s getting into more dangerous terrain, Georgia’s sliding, USC’s pretty much toast, UCLA’s reviving itself, Michigan has too far to go, Providence isn’t in big trouble but is in little trouble, and North Texas got its feet back under it. Incomplete list, but that’s what we were working with.
- ToNITe, Iowa and Penn State are already underway. Also very interested in Washington’s trip to Eugene, and in FAU’s game at Bartow Arena. Not a loaded night, but a good one nonetheless.
More Chicago:
- Justin Steele’s hyped about Shōta Imanaga, so I’m hyped about Shōta Imanaga. Also, day game at Wrigley the day after the NIT Championship in Indy? Day game involving Joe Kelly? We might have to maintain our unintentional boycott of the Indianapolis airport and fly through Midway or O’Hare.
- I will say this, in defense of the Bulls: I probably also overvalue Alex Caruso.
Joe Kelly, Burnley, and the Sens:
- We’ve got nothing on Burnley, but Blackburn’s in the news. Duncan McGuire, a forward on the USMNT, was supposed to go on a six-month loan from Orlando to the Rovers, but Blackburn forgot to click submit, which the EFL ruled is not something teams are allowed to forget to do. Makes me feel better about the Burnleys.
- The Sens still have a couple days of All-Star Break left, but practice finally resumed today, and while Jake Sanderson was out (uh oh), Anton Forsberg skated (good!). Sens.
- Pitchers and catchers reported today for the Dodgers, who start spring training early because they’ve got that Korea series in the middle of March. Joe Kelly wasn’t there, from what we can tell. Believe it’s just a family commitment, though. All is well. Good kind of family commitment. I swear I’m not stalking Joe Kelly.
