The Loop
Trevor Bauer waited almost two years to dagger this former Astros pitcher over cheating scandal
Trevor Bauer has earned the reputation of being one of the most outspoken and opinionated players in the MLB. Sometimes, that gets in him a bit of trouble with the Twitter trolls, but days like Monday make dealing with the social media hate all worth it.
Nearly two years ago, Bauer, then a member of the Cleveland Indians and now a member of the Cincinnati Reds, voiced some legitimate concerns on Twitter over the Houston Astros' ability to turn around the career of a few of Bauer's fellow pitchers. Justin Verlander, Gerritt Cole, Charlie Morton. All three had gone through some serious struggles prior to arriving in Houston, and after arriving became unhittable. Were these all career renaissances or was there something more to it?
Bauer suspected something was up, tweeting on May 1, 2018 "If only there was just a really quick way to increase spin rate. Like what if you could trade for a player knowing that you could bump his spin rate a couple hundred rpm overnight...imagine the steals you could get on the trade market! If only that existed..."
Bauer's thoughts were immediately dismissed as "salty" and nothing more than a tinfoil-hat type conspiracy theory. Surely, these Astros pitchers just happened to all turn their careers around in Houston at the exact same time.
Another Astros pitcher, Collin McHugh, chimed in on Bauer's tweet that season, a season in which he pitched to a 1.99 ERA out of the bullpen in 58 appearances. Here was McHugh's response that same day, May 1, 2018:
At the time, McHugh had DUNKED on Bauer. He EVISCERATED him. DRAGGED him. Etc., etc. On Monday, almost two years later, Bauer got his sweet, sweet revenge when the Astros were disciplined for illegally using electronics to steal signs during their 2017 World Series season. Manager A.J. Hinch and General Manager Jeff Lunhow were each suspended a year and subsequently fired. The organization also had to forfeit its first and second round draft picks for the next two years, and was fined $5 million, the maximum allowed under MLB's constitution. As if that wasn't a big enough hammer, Bauer dropped the hammer of Thor on McHugh's head:
Waiting nearly two years to pounce takes some all-time patience. Tip of the cap to Trevor, who didn't only dagger McHugh on Monday:
Have a day Trevor, have a day.