On a night he was involved in a bench-clearing brawl between the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, the Reds traded outfielder Yasiel Puig to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Trevor Bauer in a three-team trade that also involves the San Diego Padres.
Cleveland decided to punt on Trevor Bauer, who was easily the top pitcher on the block before the trade deadline. Over his career, Bauer is 68-55 with a 3.92 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. This season he went 9-8 with a 3.78 ERA and 1.21 WHIP.
Puig initially struggled after the Dodgers traded him to the Reds. He’s perked up in recent weeks and hitting .252 with 22 home runs and 61 RBI.
CINCY-SD-CLEVELAND TRADE:
Reds Get: Trevor Bauer (RHP)Indians Get: Yasiel Puig (OF), Franmil Reyes (OF), Logan Allen (LHP), Victor Nova (3B)
Padres Get: Taylor Trammell (CF)
On paper, it seems as though all three teams got exactly what they were looking for. Cleveland badly needed help in the outfield and they acquired two capable players with Puig and Nova.
The Padres are loaded with infield prospects, but they were thin in the outfield department. They landed a top prospect with CF Taylor Trammell.
The Reds are out of the Wild Card hunt, which is sort of surprising they grabbed Bauer. Word on the street is that they want to deal Bauer before the trade deadline for prospects.
Puig and Reds Brawl with Pirates
The Pirates and Reds have lots of history and bad blood. The two teams are bottom feeders in the tight NL Central. They had a feisty series that cumulated in a benches clearing dust up. The why’s are not as important as the insanity of the viral video making the rounds. Of course, Puig was in the middle of the Reds and Pirates brawl.
The Reds lost 11-4 to the Pirates, but no one will remember the score. They will remember the fact that in the middle of the game that news broke about Puig being traded for Bauer. However, Puig was still in the game and ready to bust some heads in a brawl.
It all began when Pirates pitcher Keone Kela went head hunting against Derek Dietrich. The Pirates didn’t like Dietrich’s showboating post-home runs. Joey Votto on the Reds had words for the Pirates dugout and had to be pushed back by one of the umpires. Reds manager David Bell got tossed arguing balls and strikes. Reds reliver Jared Hughes retaliated and plunked Starling Marte. Amir Garrett got the call to relive Hughes and before he even threw a pitched he challenged the entire Pirates team to a fight.
Garret did not back down and rushed toward the bench. He took on three guys and both benches cleared.
Both managers, Clint Hurdle from the Pirates and Cincy’s Bell, had to be pulled apart. Even the old guys wanted a piece of each other.
The Reds' and Pirates' benches have cleared. pic.twitter.com/za8hYc0zuX
— FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) July 31, 2019
Bauer Air Mail, Moved Again?
Apparently the Cleveland Indians decided to trade Trevor Bauer as financial decision before the tantrum over the weekend.
After Bauer got rocked by the Kansas City Royals, he fired a ball 400-plus feet over the centerfield wall while fuming on the pitchers mound. When manager Terry Francona pulled Bauer from the game, you didn’t need to be a lip reader to understand that Francona shouted, “Why the f— did you do that?”
So, um Bauer is really reaaaaaally unhappy. Holy cow. 😬#AlwaysRoyal pic.twitter.com/TJDh6ynMOu
— FOX Sports Kansas City (@FSKansasCity) July 28, 2019
Bauer’s eccentricity first caught the eye of the public in the 2016 playoffs after a freak injury. Word got out that he spliced his finger open while cleaning the blades on his drone. Bauer pitched through the injury, bloody finger and all.
In 217, Bauer finished with a 17-9 record despite a 4.19 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. Last season, Bauer went 12-6 with a 2.21 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. He missed several weeks after he fractured his leg on a blazing line drive.
As the trade deadline loomed, the NY Yankees and Houston Astros were among the teams mentioned as a potential trade partners for Trevor Bauer.
