Bauer says there's no beef with Gerrit Cole
Despite an apparent rocky relationship that goes back to their college days, Cleveland Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer doesn't have an issue with Gerrit Cole of the Houston Astros.
Bauer and Cole were teammates at UCLA and were apparently not the greatest of friends, according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports.
The pair are scheduled to pitch opposite one another for the first time in their professional careers on Sunday, and prior to the matchup, some people didn't believe they'd be able to push aside their past and remain civil with each other. Especially with Bauer insinuating the Astros used foreign substances earlier this month.
"I would have to say the odds of the earth burning up are better than that," Rick Vanderhook, a former UCLA assistant said. "That’s not going to happen. It’s just not. They are opposites, just such complete opposites."
Bauer addressed the matter on Thursday in an interview with MLB.com's Jordan Bastian and said there is no longer any sort of beef between him and Cole.
"I know (USA TODAY had a) piece today. But, I have no problem with Gerrit," Bauer explained. "We had a rocky relationship in college, because he told me that I had no future in baseball and he insulted my work ethic as a freshman. I don’t take kindly to those couple things, so we had our issues. And I have, I don’t know, those feelings have long since faded. Right now, it’s cool to see him having success.
"Regardless of how each of us feels about anything, we’re intertwined forever."
Bauer (No. 3) and Cole (No. 1) were both drafted in 2011 and have had plenty of success in the big leagues thus far. Bauer said he hoped that would continue for the both of them and showed no ill will towards Cole.
"I don't know if two teammates have been drafted as high out of college ever. I'm not sure if that's a thing. I can't imagine it would be, but we're part of a historic team at UCLA. We're part of a historic draft. We're part of, hopefully, historic careers on both ends," Bauer said.
"I'd love nothing more than to trade Cy Youngs with him for the next 10 years, because it's good for everybody involved. So I'm happy for him. I'm happy that he seems to be healthy this year."