THE A's HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BY SIGNING TREVOR BAUER

IT is long past time to jettison the ongoing hypocrisy that has prevented the embattled Trevor Bauer from a chance at redemption. 

That has been made more manifest than ever with the recent decision by shyster commish Rob Manfred to reinstate the formerly "unholy eighteen" (with Pete Rose leading off, and Joe Jackson batting third) for Hall of Fame eligibility. 

The pyramid of "moral offense" that was baseball's ironclad perimeter has been breached. But what happened to Trevor Bauer has much more greyscale than baseball's (thankfully crumbling) black-and-white pseudo-pieties. If gambling is now an offense similar to the use of illegal substances, then it's clear that Bauer--who served his ban and was then ostracized from MLB, should long ago been given a chance to resume his career in American baseball.

It goes without saying that Bauer has rubbed many people the wrong way from the dawn of his baseball career: he created conditions that resulted in his ostracism. And the actions that created a firestorm of controversy over what now can more than credibly be seen as a sexual blackmail scheme continue to unfairly prevent him--virtually alone amongst all his peers--to resume his career.

(YES, there is the case of Julio Urias, a repeat offender of domestic violence. And, of course, Wander Franco, embroiled in a queasy-at-the-very-best transactional sexual "arrangement" that has all the fragrance of a leaking septic tank. Franco's legal fate is still TBD: he may well be looking to play baseball in prison. Urias, who pled no contest to charges brought against him, will come off the MLB restricted list next month: the jury is out as to whether anyone will give him a chance to redeem himself.)

It's now getting very late in the game for Bauer, who's 34 and may not have enough left in the tank to be the top-flight pitcher that he was in 2020-21. He's currently back in Japan, after a stint in Mexico last year. He's pitching well, and it's clear that there are teams with gaping holes in their pitching staffs who could easily give him a chance to redeem himself, both on the mound and in the clubhouse. 

One of those teams, ironically: the Dodgers, whose relentless skein of pitcher injuries in the recent years can be seen as a kind of payback for their shattering lack of empathy and rush to judgment regarding Bauer. (The monolithic, stuffed-with-money organizational behemoth is a troubling analogue to the plutocratic malaise currently enveloping an imperiled American democracy; while the Dodgers stop short of overt criminality, they embody an unseemly monopolistic approach to talent acquisition: it is no wonder that they have wrested away the "Evil Empire" monicker from the Yankees.)

IT would be wonderful if the Dodgers, persistently plagued by what is now approaching an entire roster's worth of pitchers residing on the injured list, would somehow be forced to turn to Bauer. But even we know better than to think it could ever come to that, as perversely appealing the notion is. No, the two 2025 teams who have absolutely nothing to lose by giving Bauer a chance are the Colorado Rockies (currently 12-50) and the FCG Athletics. (FCG is not a location: it's an abbreviation for "Floating Crap Game," which perfectly describes the slowly escalating, claustrophobically bizarre limbo of the former Oakland franchise, now ensconced in a minor-league park where their ballpark bunkmates, the Sacramento Solons, who--in another cruel irony--are the AAA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, whose long-ago veto of the A's bid to build a stadium in San Jose was a key piece in the A's ever-exploding puzzle.)

Clearly the A's are a perfect psychological fit for Bauer, though they are highly unlikely to admit it. And, for those still wanting to punish Bauer further, assigning him to a team whose current ballpark is a living hell for pitchers should add some poisoned sprinkles to his ice cream cone of "forgiveness." 

AND it's also clear that Bauer would, in fact, willingly embrace such a scenario (we stop short of calling it a full-fledged "opportunity"). We suspect that he knows that whatever surfaces for him will be some form of a "stacked deck." That said, both parties have nothing to lose--and the A's current battle fatigue (given that in the last 30 games, they have matched the Rockies with a 6-24 record) should prompt them to try just about anything/anyone to stop the bleeding that oozes from the pitching mound whenever they play.

So, yes--Bauer the banned pariah resurfaces with baseball's vagabond team. It's a peculiarly American story, isn't it? But we know that A's owner John Fisher--the Coddled & Deluded One--would never stand for it. It would involve actually owning the travesty he has created (and what those directing things within the septic tank of baseball's uniquely "fragrant" form of plutocracy have callously enabled). 

WE hope that Bauer gets his chance--but we are not holding our breath.