Should the Philadelphia Phillies pursue Trevor Bauer this offseason?

Should the Philadelphia Phillies splash on their rotation once more?

After yet another disappointing season, the Philadelphia Phillies are once again set to experience some serious roster restructuring. Expensive salaries in Jake Arrieta and David Robertson are expected to come off the books, and marquee free agents in JT Realmuto and Didi Gregorius could end up leaving as well.

With rumors of a new general manager potentially coming in at some point this offseason (hopefully sooner rather than later), Phillies fans could be looking at an entirely different roster come Opening Day in 2021. One of the biggest names that has consistently popped up in free agency discussions is that of the ever controversial Trevor Bauer. Coming off the best season of his career, in which he’ll likely capture the NL Cy Young award, the right-hander projects to be one of the most sought after starting pitchers in baseball this winter.

After struggling a bit in 2019, Bauer came back a man on fire here in 2020’s shortened season. He was absolutely surreal across 11 starts for the Cincinnati Reds, capping it off with a historically good playoff outing. His 1.73 ERA led all NL pitchers, and his 0.795 WHIP and 2 complete game shutouts ranked atop the entire MLB.

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Needless to say, it was a really good year for Bauer. Exactly the type of season you want to have right before you hit the open market.

When it comes to the Philadelphia Phillies and their situation, Bauer has to be intriguing for a few reasons. The first being that his addition would give them one of the best rotations in all of baseball. A starting five of Bauer-Nola-Wheeler-Eflin-Howard would likely finish in the top five of rotational ERA, setting them up to finally make a postseason run while also lowering the amount of bullpen usage the team would need.

On top of that, Bauer has remained insistent that longterm deals don’t intrigue him. This would likely excite a team like the Phillies, as it would help them avoid a repeat of the Arrieta situation, where a pitcher in their prime rapidly declines after receiving a huge contract.

Josh Donaldson’s one-year/$23 million contract that he signed with the Braves in 2019 currently ranks as the largest one-year deal in baseball history, and Bauer could be looking to eclipse that this offseason.

For what it’s worth, there’s a legitimate pathway to the Phillies being able to re-sign Realmuto and going after someone like Bauer. However, if they ultimately get priced out of a Realmuto extension, turning their sights solely towards Bauer would be a fairly good play to make. Elite starting pitching has long helped teams win championships, and the Phillies are in all honesty one more elite arm away from having a top rotation in baseball.

Similar to how the Nationals’ signing of Patrick Corbin pushed them over the hump in 2019, Bauer could do the same for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2021.

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Before we get too carried away with this hypothetical, the competition for Bauer is expected to be intense. He’s still just 29 years old and is coming off a monster season. All sorts of big market teams are going to be in on him, and the Phillies front office (whoever that may end up being) will have to act decisively if they want the righty’s services.

Someone like Marcus Stroman would be a fun consolation prize, but that’s a topic for another day.

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