Trevor Bauer busts myth about money earned by baseball players in light of Juan Soto's $765,000,000 deal with the Mets

Exiled MLB pitcher Trevor Bauer said fans wrongly perceive baseball players to be extremely affluent, especially after Juan Soto signed a record-breaking contract during this offseason. He clarified that most professional players only receive a tiny fraction of that salary and are financially unstable because it's very difficult to build a long career in the sport.

Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million free agent deal with the New York Mets in December, making him the highest-paid player in terms of present value. It also turned out to be the largest-ever contract in professional sports, going past the 10-year, $700 million that Shohei Ohtani had signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers just a year earlier.

Trevor Bauer offered his thoughts during an interview with business entrepreneur Ryan Pineda on the latter's podcast last month. The pair recently posted a clip of it on their respective Instagram profiles.

"The guys that make it to the big leagues can make $700 [thousand] a year if they're up all year. Most of those guys are up and down, so they end up making $500 [thousand] a year," Bauer said.

"Half of that goes into taxes; you're left with $250 [thousand]. It's good money, but you can't do it for a career. If you could do that for 30 years and retire at 250, great. But that lasts for two or three years. You don't come out of it with much.

"People see Soto sign for basically a billion dollars or whatever, and it's crazy. He deserves it, by the way. He's the best hitter in baseball," Bauer added. "They see he signed for that much and are like, "Oh, baseball players get paid so much. "But the vast majority don't. I'm sure that's the way in business and stuff."

Trevor Bauer has not played in the MLB since 2021, before he was suspended for 194 games following allegations of sexual assault against him. The Los Angeles Dodgers terminated their contract with Bauer upon completion of his sentence, but he has not been signed up by any major team since then.

Trevor Bauer jokes about joining the Yankees amid their pitching woes

Trevor Bauer has not pitched in the MLB since 2021 (Image Source: IMAGN)

Following the recent long-term injury layoffs for Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil in the New York Yankees starting rotation, Trevor Bauer sarcastically made himself available to join the reigning American League champions via a short message on X last week.

"Need a Cy Young starting pitcher for $0?" he teased.

Trevor Bauer has been plying his trade on foreign shores over the past few years with the major league teams refusing to sign the 2020 National League Cy Young winner to their rosters. He played for Diablos Rojos del Mexico of the Mexican League in 2024 and has signed up to rejoin the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the NPB for his second stint in Japan.