Trevor Bauer claims his beef with long-time nemesis Gerrit Cole is in the past — and is now pining to again anchor a rotation alongside his former UCLA teammate.
Bauer, who is attempting to return to Major League Baseball, first congratulated the Yankees’ ace on unanimously winning the AL Cy Young Award on Wednesday night.
“Welcome to the club @GerritCole45! Finally recognized for something you’ve deserved for a long time,” Bauer tweeted Thursday. “Pretty damn cool for a pair of college teammates to both win Cy Young’s. For all you baseball historians out there, has that ever happened before or is this a first?”
An X user replied:”You should join him in the Bronx. Would love to see you in this Rotation!!”
Bauer, who is aiming to return to MLB after being passed over last offseason following his two-year suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy, took the opening to make his Bronx pitch.
“Would love to. We did go to the World Series last time we were teammates, after all,” Bauer said in reference to their College World Series appearance with UCLA in 2010.
A user then asked Bauer: “Are y’all cool now?”
Bauer responded: “Have been for years.”
Cole and Bauer pitched for UCLA from 2009-11, with Cole going first to the Pirates in the 2011 MLB Draft and Bauer landing with the Diamondbacks with the third pick.
The two developed a rivalry during that time.
Bauer told Sports Illustrated that Cole criticized him for not following the team’s weight-lifting program, and reports indicate their personalities did not mesh.
During their MLB careers, Bauer intensified the rivalry by accusing Cole’s Astros of doctoring baseballs.
After winning the NL Cy Young Award with the Reds in 2020, Bauer claimed he and Cole had squashed the beef.
“I have nothing wrong with Gerrit,” Bauer said, per MLB.com. “We had our differences in college and that was nine or 10 years ago at this point. I’m a different person now than I was then. I’m sure the same is true for him.”
It obviously behooves Bauer to be on his best behavior while he attempts to return to MLB after he and accuser Lindsey Hill settled their lawsuits.
That he would go out of his way to congratulate Cole makes sense since Cole’s voice carries weight with the Yankees, and there are only 30 jobs available in the sport.
It remains to be seen if any MLB team has the appetite to sign him after his suspension.
Bauer’s agents talked to teams during the recent GM Meetings about signing the right-hander, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported.