{"id":782976,"date":"2026-05-08T23:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T23:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782976\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T23:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T23:20:24","slug":"will-work-for-free-trevor-bauer-proposes-a-0-salary-mlb-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782976\/","title":{"rendered":"Will work for free? Trevor Bauer proposes a ‘$0 salary’ MLB contract"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trevor Bauer<\/a> wants to pitch in the majors again \u2014 so much so that he\u2019s willing to start over in the lowest levels of the minor leagues and work his way up.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s willing to do it without being paid.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the hypothetical Bauer proposed Friday on X: A talented former Cy Young Award winner signs a minor league deal with an MLB team for a \u201c$0 salary\u201d and can be cut at any time at no financial risk to the organization.<\/p>\n

Since his last MLB start on June 28, 2021, as a member of the Dodgers with a $102-million, three-year contract, Bauer has been accused of sexual assault by four women. He served a 194-game suspension<\/a> for violating the league\u2019s sexual assault and domestic violence policy. He has denied all the allegations and has never been charged with a crime.<\/p>\n

While some might think signing Bauer might be a risky move for an MLB organization, Bauer feels his plan is foolproof in that regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cHypothetical: You\u2019re the owner of an MLB team,\u201d Bauer wrote. \u201cI offer to take $0 salary and sign a minor league contract and go to Low A. If the \u2018he sucks now\u2019 crowd is right and I get lit up, you cut me, lose $0 and there\u2019s no risk to the big league club. <\/p>\n

\n

Hypothetical: You\u2019re the owner of an MLB team. I offer to take $0 salary and sign a minor league contract and go to Low A. <\/p>\n

If the \u201che sucks now\u201d crowd is right and I get lit up, you cut me, lose $0 and there\u2019s no risk to the big league club. <\/p>\n

If the \u201cclubhouse cancer\u201d crowd is\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Trevor Bauer (\u30c8\u30ec\u30d0\u30fc\u30fb\u30d0\u30a6\u30a2\u30fc) (@BauerOutage) May 8, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIf the \u2018clubhouse cancer\u2019 crowd is right, you see it immediately at Low A and cut me. You lose $0 and there\u2019s no risk to the big league club. If there\u2019s massive negative PR, which we already know there won\u2019t be, you just cut me and move on. The story is dead in a couple days, you lose $0, and there\u2019s no risk to the big league club.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the comments on Bauer\u2019s post, someone challenged him on the notion that \u201cwe already know there won\u2019t be\u201d any negative PR if he is signed. In response, Bauer pointed to his current stint with the Long Island Ducks<\/a> of the independent Atlantic League to support his argument.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere has the negative PR been?\u201d wrote Bauer<\/a>, who is 3-1 this season and pitched a no-hitter for the Ducks late last month. \u201cI\u2019m playing in America. In New York of all places. Most \u2018hostile\u2019 media market in the United States. Stadiums are sold out when I pitch. There\u2019s no boycotts. No media frenzy. Where is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bauer wrote in his proposal that if none of the negatives he laid out earlier happen, then the organization can promote their cost-free pitcher through the ranks, re-evaluating him every step of the way, until he reaches the big leagues \u2014 \u201cif I earn it,\u201d he wrote, \u201cwhich you\u2019d be 100% in control of deciding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t think I\u2019m good enough, you lose $0 and there\u2019s no risk to the big league club,\u201d Bauer wrote. \u201cYou could take away my \u2018antics\u2019. You could take away my social media. You could ask anything of me. If I don\u2019t comply, you cut me, lose $0, and there\u2019s no risk to the big league club.\u201d<\/p>\n

One X user asked why Bauer doesn\u2019t just take away his \u201cantics\u201d on his own.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause no teams actually care about that,\u201d Bauer responded. \u201cThey enjoy the content. And I\u2019m not going to rob baseball fans of great baseball entertainment just to solve a problem that only exists in the minds of x bots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Informed that the MLB Players Assn. might have an issue with him playing for free, Bauer replied, \u201cWho gives a crap about what mlbpa does or doesn\u2019t want?\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Bauer has made what he considers to be a low-risk proposal for an organization to bring him back into the league. In 2024, Bauer spoke with The Times\u2019 Bill Shaikin<\/a> about an offer he made to play for the league minimum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason for that was, I want to go back to work, and I am trying to find any way that I possibly can to limit the risk and exposure for a team,\u201d Bauer said. \u201cI realize there are a lot of other things, outside of the on-field stuff, that go into whether to sign me. So I figured that, if I could limit the on-field risk as much as possible, perhaps that offsets some of the other perceived risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether any club is willing to take up Bauer on his current offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat logical reason is there to not do this?\u201d Bauer wrote. \u201cAt worst, you cut me and there\u2019s no risk to the big league club. At best, you get a Cy Young winner for $0 who you know can still pitch and could help the big league team if and when you see fit.\u201d<\/p>\n