Trevor Bauer is generating a lot of interest on the free agent market. He's also seeking a lot of money.
The veteran pitcher and reigning Cy Young Award winner is believed to want a five- or six-year contract worth between $36 and $40 million annually for a total of about $200 million, MLB Network's Jon Heyman reported Tuesday.
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is the highest-paid player in baseball with an average salary of $36 million per year. But Bauer apparently wants to match or exceed Cole's AAV to take that mantle from his former UCLA teammate.
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The Boston Red Sox desperately need rotation help and likely have done their research on Bauer, who posted a sparkling 1.73 ERA last season with 100 strikeouts in 73 innings. Bauer's sky-high asking price all but rules out the 29-year-old coming to Boston, however.
While the Red Sox have some financial breathing room after trading Mookie Betts and David Price last offseason, they're not exactly in "win now" mode after finishing with MLB's fourth-worst record last season. So, it makes little sense for Chaim Bloom and his staff to pay Bauer north of $36 million per year into his 30s, since adding him alone wouldn't make the Red Sox contenders.
Instead, expect Boston to target arms at a more reasonable price -- the team recently added Matt Andriese on a reported one-year, $2.1 million deal and reportedly is in the mix for 34-year-old Corey Kluber -- and build out the farm system as it takes the longer view on a rebuild.