Dodgers: Mookie Betts on Trevor Bauer ‘You Know What You’re Getting’

In back-to-back offseasons, the Dodgers have made perhaps the biggest splashes in baseball in terms of adding talent. A year ago, Andrew Friedman pulled off a move he’d been working toward for months. He finally got Mookie Betts. And just a few weeks ago, he inked top free agent pitcher Trevor Bauer to a big money deal with LA.

On Saturday at Camelback Ranch the first splash spoke with a group of beat writers about the second splash, so to speak. Betts was asked his thoughts on Bauer and all that comes with him.

“He is who he is,” Mookie told Bill Plunkett of the OC Register, among others. “You know what you’re getting and so I don’t really worry about it. That doesn’t bother me. He goes out there and competes, he gets wins and those types of things. I don’t know what more you can ask for. You know what you’re getting. He’s got to be Trevor Bauer — you can’t try and turn him into someone else. Obviously, he’s very good. He’s won a Cy Young and it’s not an accident.”

Most Dodgers have welcomed Trevor Bauer with open arms, albeit in the usually more controlled Zoom interview format. Still, that’s how his new teammates should welcome him. For as much reputation Bauer has following him, more recent teammates have offered glowing reviews of the right-hander in the clubhouse.

Related: Trevor Bauer’s Past Teammates Talk About His Personality

At the end of the day, in the locker room, it really should be about a group of players pulling on the same rope together for a common goal. What players do on their own time is their own prerogative… so long as it doesn’t cause distractions for the team.

Andrew Friedman pointed to his own personal record of player signings and success as a reason to trust him and trust Trevor Bauer on the team. Now Mookie Betts, already a widely respected clubhouse leader after just one season in Dodger blue, is saying to let it play out and let Bauer be Bauer. And that’s how it will be.

Trevor Bauer makes his LA debut on Monday at Camelback Ranch against the Rockies.

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