I can not sum it up better than what Craig Calcattera did, so let’s start there:
Trevor Bauer had his introductory press conference / Zoom meeting with the Dodgers and composite baseball media yesterday. And we have to give them a little bit of credit (the exact amount, to quote Alan Arkin from the movie Argo, would be the buffalo shit on a nickel) that they even bothered to ask Bauer about his past behavior on social media. To review it, Bauer is a misogyny, transphobies, harassing pig in the past. But before, people like Bauer were not even asked the question. Take, for example, Tom Brady and Antonio Brown this past Super Bowl.
So Bauer addressed it. Rare. And not even really. It was the most fleeting time you could imagine.
“All the conversations I’ve had with people in all societies over the last few years and all the things I’ve learned – I can say I learned from that,” Bauer said after his no. 27 jersey during a Dodger Stadium virtual news conference. ‘I spend a lot of time talking to other people to try to understand other perspectives, and I do my best to be better, just like in all areas of life. I do not think it makes sense to dive into specific issues in this forum, but I am committed to being better on social media, being better on the field, being better in the clubhouse, being better in life in general. ”
And this kettle plate-answer-nothing-answer did not yield a follow-up question, a warning, criticism, anything. What did Bauer learn? Who did he talk to? What perspectives? It absolutely makes sense to dive into details, but the reason he does not want to is most likely because he has not done a shit about it yet. Why would he? He just signed for $ 40 million this year. Where are the consequences? You can be sure he’s going to be on his shit again the next time a woman sneezes at him on Twitter. And the check will still be cash.
And yet it becomes headlines like this on ESPN, as if he had changed a new page. Or this on MLB.com, as if that were enough. At least that piece mentioned his actions in the past, while also including his non-apology. Here is on-the-go stooge Jon Heyman to advocate for those attending the press conference, even though Bauer again said nothing, there were no follow-up questions, Bauer accepted no responsibility and the article that Heyman repeats says just as much. It feels like the slightest effort to interrogate someone about this kind of behavior is treated like William Wallace conquering the English, simply so that the baseball press does not have to do it again.
G / O Media can get a commission
And GM Andrew Friedman was no better.
‘The most important thing is every teammate we spoke to, all the feedback from every organization he was with was not only incredibly positive in terms of the type of teammate he is, but also in terms of the impact he’s on. every organization, ”Friedman said when asked if he believed he would alienate some of the team’s supporters by signing Bauer. “I think the talent is pretty obvious. But I also think that, from a cultural point of view, continuing to strive to get better with everything we do will be a tremendous asset in that. It is not for me to speak for Trevor, but in our conversations he refers to mistakes he has made in the past. And you know what, we’re all going to make mistakes. What matters to me is how people – including myself, when I make mistakes – are how we internalize them and what our thoughts about them go forward. From our point of view, it was important to have that conversation. And we came away from feeling good about it. Now, of course, time will tell. But I feel he will be a great addition, not only on the field, but also in the clubhouse, in the community, which is why we are sitting here. ‘
Friedman, like Bauer, says nothing here. Did he talk to the women who are harassing Bauer? Fuck no, he did not. Did he talk to any women about Bauer? Nope. But did he talk to Bauer’s former teammates? What are they going to tell you? Are they those whose lives he made hell?
About thoughts ahead, to repeat myself ad nauseum, Bauer said nothing about what he was going to do going forward except ‘be better’. Hel, thaIt’s a step shy of Melania’s meaningless ‘Be the Best’ campaign against cyberbullying when her husband was the sticker child for it. “Be better” can mean anything. And therefore it means nothing.
But hey, he actually had to address it with a nothing-burger, so everyone in baseball media suddenly think it is the Woodward and Bernstein of sexism.