Bauer gets meeting with Manfred weeks after calling him a 'joke'
Warning: Story contains coarse language
Trevor Bauer has been one of the most vocal critics of Major League Baseball's handling of the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal and, on Wednesday, the Cincinnati Reds right-hander got to have a one-on-one meeting with commissioner Rob Manfred.
"It was a good conversation," Bauer told Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer. "We both were honest with each other, spoke candidly, understood each other's points and heard each other out."
The meeting came after Bauer publicly addressed Manfred on Twitter and said the newly proposed playoff format - which would allow 14 teams into the postseason as opposed to the current 10 - is "absurd," before calling the commissioner himself "a joke."
No idea who made this new playoff format proposal, but Rob is responsible for releasing it, so I’ll direct this to you, Rob Manfred. Your proposal is absurd for too many reasons to type on twitter and proves you have absolutely no clue about baseball. You’re a joke.
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) February 11, 2020
"It was a productive conversation," Bauer continued. "Hopeful that some positive will come of it, more than just talk about it, but that remains to be seen.
"We talked about a lot. Just the state of baseball, the Astros, technology in general, the playoffs. It was wide-ranging."
In wake of the Astros using center-field cameras to illegally steal signs, MLB has been devising ways to limit the use of technology in clubhouses and dugouts. No new rules have been put in place yet, but a deal is expected to be brokered between the league and the MLB Players Association prior to Opening Day.
Upon reporting for spring training, Bauer heavily criticized the Astros as well as the league for its punishment of the team.
"Because for two years, three years, they mocked me for bringing up the fact that they could possibly be cheating," Bauer said at the time, according to C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. "What I brought up, there's no denying that they're doing it, which is the ridiculous part. There’s that part of it, how can you know you're cheating and then just go and attack someone for saying it? If I was cheating and someone called me out on it, I'd be like, 'Oh shit, I'm not going to say anything, I'm going to try to ignore that.' They went on the offensive, attacking my character, demeaning me and stuff like this, all the while I know and they know that they were doing exactly what I said."