Trevor Bauer calls MLB 'disingenuous' for saying players don't have to stick to sports

Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer is one of the few baseball players to be outspoken about his political beliefs. Bauer is so passionate about his thoughts he’s been willing to debate literally hundreds of Twitter users on divisive subjects.

So, when Major League Baseball decides it’s a good idea for players to start engaging on those topics more, you would think Bauer would be happy. You would be wrong.

[Batter up: Join a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for free today]

After attending a meeting in which players were encouraged to “take a stance and be leaders politically,” Bauer called out MLB for being “disingenuous.”

We aren’t privy to the conversations Bauer had with the league, but it sounds like he’s gotten in trouble over some of his tweets. Bauer has tweeted about climate change denial and spread conspiracy theories about former presidents in the past.

His “censor” line raises a lot of questions, however. And Bauer made sure to continue to stoke that fire with more tweets. One fan asked Bauer why he hadn’t been on Twitter much during the offseason and he implied that perhaps he was discouraged from using the site.

He wasn’t blocked or suspended by Twitter, so we’re guessing Bauer is referring to either his team or the league telling him to stay off the site for a while.

There’s a lot to sort out based on Bauer’s tweets, and that’s not including what kicked off his latest complaint. It’s possible the league will encourage players to speak out on more issues. Protests have been a big part of the NFL and NBA in recent years, but MLB players have mostly been silent. Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell was the only baseball player to kneel for the national anthem, and he said he would stand in 2018.

There’s a chance MLB’s new stance stems from an incident in which Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones heard racial slurs while playing in Fenway Park. That seems to kick off activity from both the Boston Red Sox and MLB focused on cracking down on hate speech.

Jones is one of the few MLB players will to speak strongly about societal issues in the game. When asked why other baseball players don’t engage in protest, Jones was blunt about it, saying baseball is a “white man’s sport.”

If what Bauer says is true, this could represent progress for the league. Baseball has a reputation for being slow to change. If the league wants players to be more outspoken about important issues, that’s an admirable goal.

The downside is that it could embolden more players to share thoughts that the league doesn’t want to be associated with. And if the league wanted to distance itself from those opinions in the future, players would have a built-in rebuttal.

More from Yahoo Sports:
• NFLPA calls for combine ‘ban’ after prospect’s claim of inappropriate questions
• Infuriated UNC coach tries to rip jacket in half. Fails.
• Chloe, meet Chloe: Olympic star gets her own Barbie
• After being shot in the head, WR eyes NFL return

– – – – – – –

Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik