Los Angeles Dodgers: evaluating Trevor Bauer’s culture fit

When taking a look at the Los Angeles Dodgers’ free-agent signing of Trevor Bauer, this seems like a no-brainer, on the field at least. Los Angeles won the 2020 World Series and are the clear-cut favorites to repeat after bringing in the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.

In terms of on-the-field production, there’s not much that could go wrong with this fit. But, unfortunately, baseball isn’t played in a vacuum leaving some cause for concern surrounding the MLB’s most outspoken player. Do concerns exist surrounding Bauer’s fit into this championship culture?

Los Angeles Dodgers: Trevor Bauer’s culture fit

During Bauer’s introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium, team president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman remained confident in Bauer’s culture fit in Los Angeles. This is an expected response, however, as the front office hopes to dissuade any fears from fans and media at the beginning of this new contract/relationship.

By all means, Bauer passed his first true test with the Los Angeles media. During the press conference, the nine-year MLB veteran fielded questions left and right surrounding some of his previous missteps on social media. Bauer answered these questions with grace, honesty, and humility.

"“Everyone makes mistakes in the past. I try to learn from them,” said Bauer. “I try to learn from them as quickly as I possibly can. I try to understand other people’s viewpoints on things and be better in the future.”"

The press conference was certainly a change of pace for the reigning NL Cy Young, who has spent the entirety of his career in much smaller media markets. Los Angeles ranks as the second-biggest media market in the United States while Bauer’s previous stops in Arizona, Cleveland, and Cincinnati all fall short of cracking the top-10.

This article won’t go through and list all of Bauer’s previous indiscretions and outspoken moments off the field. Perhaps, this becomes a situation where winning is the hidden solution. This is a story common in sports. The outspoken superstar finds themselves with a historically successful franchise. Not just in terms of winning, but everything else from management to team culture.

Said superstar gets a taste of winning. Not just winning, but also how these historically-great franchises operate on a day-to-day basis. The superstar gets comfortable and the off-the-field problems seem to go away. Think Randy Moss on the New England Patriots or even Alex Rodriguez with the New York Yankees.

The Los Angeles front office is hopeful to find a similar outcome with this Bauer signing. As Friedman also said during the press conference, “time will tell.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers are an example of these franchises that find success in their operations. And, there’s little to no tolerance for the missteps. The Yasiel Puig experiment only lasted so long, while the franchise aimed for the more-reserved personality types such as Mookie Betts. Still, adding a Cy Young Award winner is a potential risk worth taking.