Reds' Trevor Bauer has 'productive meeting' with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred

Trevor Bauer has been one of Rob Manfred's most vocal critics, but on Wednesday the Cincinnati Reds pitcher and the MLB commissioner met and the meeting was "very productive," the right-hander tweeted.

Bauer tweeted about the meeting after he had already spoken with reporters at the team's spring training complex in Goodyear, Arizona.

"I've been publicly critical of Rob Manfred before, but I have to give him props. He said he'd meet with any players who had further questions and he was a man of his word this morning. We had a very productive meeting about a wide range of topics," Bauer wrote.

Bauer most recently criticized Manfred after reports that MLB was mulling significant changes to its postseason that would increase the number of teams from 10 to 14 and add a reality TV-type format to determine which teams play each other in an expanded wild-card round.

Bauer first ripped Manfred on Twitter when he said "Rob is responsible for releasing it" and called him "a joke." He then defended his stance against the proposed idea when asked by reporters last month. Bauer had offered to meet with Manfred to go over his ideas that MLB should stop worrying about time of games and instead market its players better.

Manfred told ESPN's Karl Ravech last month that "there is no way I would speak about a major league player like that," when asked about Bauer's tweet.

On Wednesday, Bauer also explained why he was intentionally tipping his pitches in Monday's outing against the Dodgers' Matt Beaty. When Beaty came to the plate, Bauer indicated which pitch he would be throwing by signaling to the infielder with his glove. Beaty flied out in the at-bat.

"It was an inside story that I can't tell you guys, but just having fun, joking around," Bauer said Wednesday, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Bauer said it had nothing to do with the Astros' sign-stealing scandal. He has been outspoken in his criticism of the Astros' actions in using video to steal signs.

"It wasn't team-specific," Bauer said. "I did it a couple times last season in games. There are a lot of interesting outcomes from it, psychologically and competitively. Spring training is time to work on things."

Teammate Derek Dietrich told FOX Sports during the game that Bauer was responding to the sign-stealing scandal.

"Trevor's not too fond of it. so he figured he's going to try something new this season and he's going to start telling the batters what's coming," Dietrich said. "That way there's no ifs, ands or buts about what's going on, just here it comes, try to hit it."

Dietrich noted Bauer's propensity to do unconventional things to make a point.

"You never know," Dietrich said. "Trevor's always going to do something nuts. We enjoy him."

Bauer appreciated Dietrich's take on the pitch tipping.

"I'm not surprised it blew up on social media," Bauer said. "Derek dumped a bunch of gasoline on that fire, which I thought was pretty funny. It's good for baseball overall."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.