Spring trash talk: Miguel Montero says ex-teammate Trevor Bauer has a listening problem

With spring here, baseball players are getting back in shape, relishing being back on the field, speaking up about offseason controversies and, in some cases, getting in some early jabs.

Today's installment of spring trash talk comes from Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero, who is speaking more freely about hot-shot pitching prospect Trevor Bauer now that he's been shipped to the Cleveland Indians. Basically: Bauer didn't want to listen.

This follows Brandon Belt of the San Francisco Giants saying the Los Angeles Dodgers "can't buy chemistry." Oh snap!

But back to Montero vs. Bauer (which, sadly, is not a storyline from "24" season 9). Here's what Montero said about the former No. 3 overall draft pick, according to ArizonaSports.com:

"When you get a guy like that and he thinks he's got everything figured out, it's just tough to commence and try to get on the same page with you. Since day one in Spring Training I caught him and he killed me because he threw about 100 pitches the first day," Montero said, adding he told Bauer he should take it a bit slower and work on locating his fastball first before working on his breaking pitches. And he said 'yes', and the next time he threw I saw him doing the same thing. He never wanted to listen. He's got his ways, and it's tough to change it. Good luck to Carlos Santana there."

In Bauer's defense, he's only 22. Being young means sometimes being stubborn too. But Bauer's 6.02 ERA in his first, albiet very short, season, might teach the youngster that he needs to listen to someone. Natural gifts are great, but sometimes they need help adapting to the major league game.

D-Backs manager Kirk Gibson and the club's brass, opting for a more "gritty" team, ultimately decided Bauer wasn't worth the trouble. Perhaps some of the his new Cleveland teammates will get Bauer to listen. We know Nick Swisher is loud and Jason Giambi is more and more managerial these days.

If you're wondering: The Diamondbacks and the Indians play Arizona spring training games against each other March 21 and 22. Circle the dates.