I’ve defended Bauer’s off-field antics more than most, but this is a weak case.
First of all, is he really elite talent? Was he ever? Bauer has had one season greater than 3.1 bWAR, which is fewer than Rick Porcello. That one season was his truly elite 2018, in which he was worth 6.0 bWAR. But that was coming up on SEVEN YEARS AGO, back in a time when Corey Kluber and Porcello mattered.
B-R.com lists his most similar pitchers as Chad Billingsley, Chris Young and Julio Teheran. That’s not elite company.
And all of that was, again, a long time ago. Bauer is only 33, but he hasn’t faced MLB hitters in nearly 4 years. Could he pitch in MLB? I have no doubts. But will he return to being a top of the rotation arm? Most definitely not. At this point, what you get from Bauer you can probably get from any of a dozen other free agents, none of whom have his baggage…