Jake Bauers, the Brewers’ NLCS MVP who turned his game around after nearly calling it quits, will obviously continue his career now and the free-agent-to-be told The Post, “I would love to come back. I would love to spend the rest of my career here.”
That’s no surprise after Bauers changed his career path at age 31, leading the Brewers with 26 homers and an .873 OPS. The question is: Has he priced himself out?
Bauers, who’s listed with career earnings estimated at $4.6 million on Baseball-Reference (it’s missing a few mostly MLB minimum salary years), can cash in now.
As a late-blooming star — his 87 OPS+ for the Yankees in 2023 was his previous career norm — Bauers should be in line for a contract comparable to Ryan O’Hearn’s two-year, $29 million Pirates deal. I told him that, but oddly enough, he seems more focused on the World Series.
