One of the most plugged-in media members around the Braves believes that there’s no way they sign Trevor Bauer.
An MRI over the weekend revealed UCL damage to Spencer Strider’s throwing elbow, and the Braves ace could potentially miss extended time.
Nevertheless, Dave O’Brien, the Braves beat writer for The Athletic, went on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta on Monday morning and explained why he doesn’t see the team adding a starting pitcher from the outside.
“No, I mean that’s why they have all this depth,” O’Brien said.
“Everybody immediately goes, ‘You know they’re going to go out on the market,’ like there’s great pitchers available in the market in April. There’s not.
“Nobody is getting rid of their best pitchers, and that’s what it would take. You wouldn’t go out and get a pitcher unless he was clearly better than what you’ve got waiting, and they had guys competing for the fifth spot.”
O’Brien specified that the depth includes Huascar Ynoa, Ian Anderson, Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder and AJ Smith-Shawver and that acquiring a “marginal or OK” pitcher — the types generally available in April — would be an “asinine” impediment to their development.
Bauer, the 2020 AL Cy Young winner, is ostensibly better than “marginal,” but O’Brien was of the belief there was “zero chance” the Braves would bring him in.
“And don’t even mention Trevor Bauer,” O’Brien said, as the hosts laughed. “I don’t want to talk about Trevor Bauer.”
Bauer has been out of MLB since 2021, when he was accused of beating and sexually assaulting a women.
Bauer maintained that the rough sex was consensual, and he was not charged with a crime.
“The Braves place vetting players ahead of almost any other team I know of, character, clubhouse, all of that No. 1 priority for the Braves, well in addition to talent obviously,” O’Brien said in his radio spot Monday.
“They talk about it all the time, clubhouse chemistry and how much vetting they do about players, their background, their clubhouse reputation. You’re telling me when they vet Trevor Bauer they’re gonna go, ‘You know what, everybody says get this guy he’s great in the clubhouse, he’s the teammate they want.’ No.”
Bauer recently signed a five-game contract with the Mexico City Diablo Rojos that includes a clause that he can leave the deal if he lands with an MLB team, according to The Post’s Jon Heyman.