Arbitration was marred by MLB staffer: Bauer

GOODYEAR, ARIZ. All-star pitcher Trevor Bauer thought the Cleveland Indians presented a better overall case against him in their latest salary arbitration hearing until the last 10 minutes in a rebuttal by Major League Baseball labour relations staff that he viewed as “character assassination” against him.

“That kind of put a black mark on what I thought was a really well-argued case on both sides,” Bauer said Thursday, a day after beating the Indians in arbitration for the second year in a row. “There’s no room for that . ... Let’s just stick to the numbers. Let the numbers decide.”

A day after Wednesday’s hearing in Florida, Bauer was awarded US$13 million by the three-person panel over Cleveland’s $11-million offer. Bauer, who won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2020 season, said he never plans to sign more than a one-year contract.

The pitcher said the process hasn’t soured his feelings about the team.

“No, I understand it,” Bauer said. “I look at it as a very intellectual pursuit. It’s very intellectual and not very emotional. They actually apologized to me immediately afterward, the other side, in front of the arbitrator.”

Bauer said “the higher-ups on the team don’t go. They have lawyers argue the case for them.”

He had sent formal personalized invitations to team president Chris Antonetti and general manager Mitch Chernoff to attend his hearing.

He said that was meant as “kind of a joke and ease the tension that could be created” by such situations and Antonetti said it was taken as a “good-natured joke.”

Later, Bauer said he wanted to be clear he had no ill will toward the Indians or anyone involved in the process. He repeated he enjoys the chess match that is part of arbitration.