Content warning — the following includes discussions of sexual abuse.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and their biggest offseason signing have found themselves in a difficult situation, and it isn’t because of sticky stuff on the field.
Over the winter, the Dodgers landed the biggest free agent pitcher on the market, right hander Trevor Bauer. Fresh off of a Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds, Bauer dominated the baseball news cycles while ‘deciding’ with which team to sign. It came down to the New York Mets and Los Angeles, with Bauer ultimately signing with the Dodgers.
The Bauer signing came with a lot of scrutiny, from the amount of the contract to the ‘colorful’ history of Bauer’s career. From incidents with drones to calling out of foreign substances on baseballs to harassment of people, especially women, online.
Now, news comes of an alleged sexual assault by Bauer with a woman he met online, via Instagram. The two traded direct messages and then decided to meet up for a sexual encounter. The pair also met up again a second time.
Afterwards, the woman filed a police report. Things had turned violent during the encounter(s) with the woman sustaining a concussion and missing part of her memory of the encounter. She sustained a fractured skull from the incident. The woman has also filed a Protect From Abuse order against Bauer.
This article in The Athletic highlights many of the sordid details of the encounters. It is not for the weak of heart, and is triggering for those who have been a victim of assault themselves.
For his part, Bauer has released text messages defending his side of the story, saying that both meetings were consensual.
While not anywhere near as dire as what transpired between him at the woman, the time stamps on the text messages show that he was communicating with her within the banned 30-minute window of a player having a phone before the start of the game.
So now the Dodgers face the problem of what to do. Staying silent and letting Bauer continue to pitch says they don’t care about sexual assault allegations, but they do care about winning the division. A five or ten-game suspension while MLB sorts things out may be in order, a wait-and-see approach until the big decision is reached to see if criminal charges are filed against Bauer.
Or, they can suspend him for the rest of the season, or release him from the team permanently. The latter will most likely not happen unless Bauer is charged and found guilty of the assault, either through an MLB investigation or through the courts. There is an investigation hearing set for July 23rd.
When pitcher Julio Urías was under investigation for alleged domestic battery, the Dodgers placed him on administrative leave. He was later found guilty and was given a 20-game suspension, although the five-game suspension given by the Dodgers earlier in the year counted towards that time.
The Dodgers need to do the bare minimum here and place Bauer on administrative leave. While consensual sex, rough or otherwise, is completely in any player’s (or person’s) right, the amount of violence shown in the court filing is a huge cause for concern. If they placed Urías on leave for shoving his girlfriend in a parking lot, then this also qualifies as something that needs time away from the team.
So far, the team has only made one statement, on Tuesday, which reads, “The Dodgers were made aware of the allegations against Trevor Bauer late this afternoon and immediately contacted MLB, which will be handling this matter. The Dodgers take any allegations of this nature very seriously, but will have no further comment at this time.”
Updated – The Dodgers, through manager Dave Roberts, have stated that “Regardless of what the team wants to do, they have been instructed by MLB to move forward as normal”, and that Bauer will pitch on Sunday.
First I’m not defending Bauer. If guilty he should be suspended. I think the investigation needs to run its course. I have not read the entire article but I think I read that she wanted rough sex. Is this something she does routinely with other men? Celebrities sometimes do bad things and sometimes they are set up for monetary gain. Did Bauer cause those injuries or someone else and he is taking the fall. Again I would never defend him if he did but too often conclusions are jumped to before all facts come out. Let the investigation conclude. He is an idiot for putting himself in that position to begin with If guilty should be punished.
Gary, in the article in The Athletic he admits that he punched her while she was unconscious. Regardless of what else their sexual habits are, that is inexcusable. You cannot give consent to anything while you are unconscious, and it very much seems he made her that way. I don’t care what he does in his bedroom with consent from the other person. This doesn’t seem to be that way (I wish I could post the screenshot of the article here in the comments)
I agree that is horrible and inexcusable.
he should not be put on administrative leave this woman is a padres or giants fan trying to ruin the dodger chances sounds like a witch hunt
and what does this have to do with baseball this is a dumb policy
I agree the investigation should run its course. The question is, should the Dodgers step in and do something now.
I don’t know what to think of this. I know this kind of thing goes on, I don’t get it but to each his/her own. I also know people in Bauer’s position often get utilized for profit. That may, or may not be the case here.
I expect the Dodgers to do something. You can bet they will be getting some heat on this. Me? I think he should go away for a while. He may not be guilty of assault but he is most assuredly guilty of extreme stupidity.
Extreme stupidity for sure. The issue for me is the way the Dodgers responded to Urias as Andy has reported. The Dodgers set a precedent to suspend players in the same situation as Bauer.
The Dodgers are saying the League has told them not to do anything until they investigate. That is Not what happened with Urias. Bauer has had other situations with Women in the past and it was a concern of many before the Dodgers signed him.
This will play out and Bauer will probably be suspended as he has already admitted to punching her while she was unconscious. The question is for how long?
People are speculating online (so take as you will) is that MLB is waiting until tomorrow or Saturday to dole out a suspension or leave bc then he would be out for two starts instead of one. I’d like to think that they’re going to do SOMETHING but the lack of info right now is frustrating.
Roberts also seemed frustrated in the press conference today that he couldn’t say more, but maybe that’s just me projecting.
If he does pitch Sunday I would expect he will be booed loudly and hear all kinds of derogatory yelling at him and wonder how that might affect his pitching. Terrible situation for all affected.
The 4th of July in the nation’s capital.
Bad form. I just don’t see it happening.
The Dodgers placed Urias on administrative leave after files were charged against him, though. I don’t think police have enough on Bauer to file anything except for a PFA to stay away from the girl. At least not yet. I know there’s nothing illegal about s&M, but it’s definitely not behavior the league should condone when it becomes public. If the MLB plans on suspending a pitcher for using a sticky substance to spin a baseball, they should definitely suspend a 30-year-old player for choking a 21-year-old girl until she loses consciousness, whether there are any files charged criminally or not. That’s just wrong. I don’t care if she even asked him to do it.
There is little they can do. As for suspending him, I am pretty sure MLB wants the investigation to be concluded before any punishment is handed out. What he did is despicable, and in my opinion it gives the Dodgers cause no matter what happens to void the rest of his contract. Now, AF will most likely now have to look for help on the starter situation. There will be some available most likely, but just who is a big question. They beat the Nats in a rain shortened game tonight. Muncy a granny and Pollock a solo shot.
Also, the team is going to the White House tomorrow. Bauer was not a member of the Champs, and I cannot see any reason why the Dodgers would embarrass themselves by his being present. Now is the time for them to start stretching Price out. He can step into the rotation seamlessly. All he needs is some more work. Nice to see Souza get a hit, even if it was a dribbler.
This is blowing up. Another article with more detail today in the Athletic, also saying a SART team pictures and a police prompted phone recording of Bauer admitting what he did while she was unconscious are in the hands of investigators.
Bauer is toast. The Dodgers cannot put up with this.
Bauer leads the league in games started, batters faced, innings, and strikeouts. He has a 2.59 ERA. The Dodgers won’t replace that with Price, or anyone else for that matter. The Dodgers are going to need another innings eating starter. It won’t be Gonsolin or Price. I suggest they don’t wait a day longer.
This is an 8 game road trip followed by 3 at home vs the dbacks, then the break. The rest of the month after that is against the Division. I think they need to make him disappear at least until the 23rd, the day of the hearing. And I think Friedman needs to get on the phone. This is going to be costly.
He better have saved his money and invested wisely. This could be a shameful end to his Dodger Days and maybe his career. Kyle Gibson of Texas should be a target.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/31053/kyle-gibson
Good choice. But…. what happened yesterday?
His lawyer is still denying it, and it is not that easy to just get rid of him and his contract.
Good point, but don’t most contracts contain a morality clause as well as a “behavior unbecoming a Dodger” stipulation? This has to be nudging both those codicils close to the cliff.
P.S. – read your post. Well done.
MLB announces 7 day leave for Bauer. I figured they wouldn’t let him pitch Sunday.
Graterol added. He hardly counts as a starter.
AF should give the team a pep talk, encouraging them to sweep the Nats right out of the playoff picture this weekend so that he can go get Scherzer. With Bauer probably unlikely to be here next year and also not getting paid, that gives us some money to extend Scherzer for a couple of years. And he has the in-your-face personality this team has needed in the clubhouse.
I have been wanting Scherzer on our team for years I really hope it happens.
Of course now other teams know the Dodgers need another starter, and the price will be high
I think it’s very unlikely that Max winds up in Dodger blue, for a variety of reasons, but I don’t think it’s impossible.
Can you imagine the welcome he would get from Dodger fans, when we would basically have traded Bauer’s personality for Max’s?
So many fans would love to have him, for so many reasons
What Jefe said.
You know where I stand on Scherzer. He’s the bulldog a team like ours would embrace. He fits here. Get creative Andrew.
OK, so now that we’ve advised AF to go get Scherzer (let’s assume for the sake of this exercise that the Nats ultimately decide to part with him), what would that take in pieces and in an extension?
I would say he would ask for a minimum of 2 more years, but probably 3 or 4. Are we willing to go there?
Then, the Nats say “you aren’t getting a rental here, you’re getting a pitcher that you’ll control for another 2-4 years, so we want a bigger return.”
What are you willing to trade for a soon-to-be 37 year old pitcher with lots of milage on his arm who, granted, is pitching like a 27 year old and is having an excellent year.
Are you willing to give him 3/100?
Are you willing to trade any combo of the following? Ruiz, Busch, Gray, Pepiot, Vargas, Pages, Miller, Cartaya
Andy, please keep this open until an hour before game time and then forward the results to Andrew. We need to get this done immediately, possibly in time for Scherzer to start for us tonight instead of the Nats.
First of all, IF Washington decides to move him there aren’t a lot of teams he would be willing to say yes to, and just as few teams who would agree to he and Bora$$’s terms. Roadblocks abound here.
I wonder if he would be interested in Bauer’s contract?
I also read something about Washington being on the hook for deferral payments of $15 million per until ‘28. Not sure how that works for an acquiring team but it sounds complicated.
What about maybe that Gibson feller? He doesn’t have the resumé Scherzer has, far from it in fact, but he’s having a decent year.
I just put down a list of possibilities on Jose’s new post. Take a look. It’s time to go shopping.
See anything you like?
I’ll get back to you.
Sorry guys. I think Bauers contract is worse than we think. Its basically a 3 year contract. The worse this is, the harder it will be to get out of the contract. Can’t suspending for 3 years. If no demand for him as a free agent, and there might not be, he’ll just stay here.
Friedman was trained on Wall Street and is a very intelligent guy. He never buys when he is in a bad position.
I think all of these contracts have a morals clause so if he’s found guilty of anything near what we’ve read I don’t think they’ll have a very hard time voiding the remainder of the contract.
That’s what I believe also Jeff. It simply depends if he decides to pay her off or not. If he is found guilty I think his contract can be voided.
As Bauer has admitted to punching here etc according to The Athletic article why didn’t he buy her off? That is what most athletes and powerful people do. I am not saying that is right just that is how it works. So he is stupid, arrogant and someone that likes to beat up on women?
What a class act the Dodgers signed…
Frankly I’m a bit surprised it’s gone this far. Seems to me a settlement should have happened by now. Why hasn’t it?
Are you assuming the woman is only in it for the money? Maybe she went to the cops and didn’t confront Bauer. Maybe she wants him to be exposed for what he did and doesn’t have money as her first priority. Once she went to the cops, even a settlement offer might not have stopped the wheels of justice from grinding to a logical conclusion.
The above is all predicated on the fact that she is telling the complete truth. I have no way of knowing if that’s the case or not.
Even if she is telling the truth, money should make this go away. Remember, whatever the question, the answer is money.
Bauer has admitted to punching her according to The Athletic article on his police statement. The Pasadena police made a statement today, Saturday, they found more trails of possible evidence so we will stay tuned. This does not look good for Bauer. If the contract has a morality clause he may be hosed. It’s a tragic situation if he did do it he obviously has serious anger issues which were suspected by some of his Twitter and texts before the Dodgers signed him…Andy had an article about it that some were upset about right after his signing. Andy I am sure is very sad about this outcome but may feel some vindication.
I don’t know about vindication, but I definitely feared something was going to happen. Maybe not something of this horrific magnitude, but something was bound to go wrong. I am definitely very sad. It’s just a terrible situation all around
Andy, if you were upper management of the Dodgers, what would you do?
I’d like to think I’d do the right thing. They should have made a more forceful statement from the beginning, and not left Doc out there to waffle with his answer in front of the press. If they were hamstringed by the Players Union, that’s one thing. But they did place Urías on leave much more quickly and left this up to MLB I do not know how much was dictated by MLB but as Tmaxster and others have stated for the organization of this caliber, for all the work they do, to seemingly not care is horrid. I do not care if it’s innocent until proven guilty. As a woman who is a fan, who has friends who have been assaulted as well as incidents in my own life, it really felt callous, as have many of the comments on here about it being about money. I promise you she’s not putting herself through this shit bc she just wants money. No woman wants to relive her trauma over and over, especially not within the court of public opinion. I thought Stan Kasten’s comments were especially heinous and hurtful. I’m very disappointed in the team.
I know many of you just look at it as a business, but there comes a point where it goes beyond that, and this is one of those times.
Well said.
I still think there’s a possibility money stops this. Not that it’s ABOUT money, but if this thing drags out she will have to face Bauer’s legal team and you can bet she will be shown no mercy. She’s made her point. Bauer has not only been publicly exposed and humiliated, this could cost him his career.
Andy vindication only in that there was a very negative reaction by some with their comments and histrionics about never reading the column again yada yada yada that I thought was uncalled for. I thought any large organization like the Dodgers should be very careful about the image they project. With all the great work the Dodgers do in the community and with charities, they should have been more thoughtful in signing someone with his history of negativity. Especially with their reaction to Urias last year. My wife and I have 3 very independent and empowered daughters so we are very dialed in to all the abuse and slights women routinely get in our society and workforce.
I agree with all of this, Tmaxster
I think I remember reading somewhere that Bauer was a changed man. Still a bit eccentric but not bat shat crazy and more of a good teammate. And that may be true. But he made a terrible mistake here. I think he’s gotta go. I’m very interested in what you and Andy, and others here, think. Does he step out on the field and represent the Dodgers again?
The Dodgers are going to let the MLB make the call here rather than what they decided to do with Urias. As I am part Latin I always wondered if the Dodger very quick suspension of Urias was biased because of his age and race. The Dodgers are a White Male group and a very wealthy Old Boys Club internally…
Sorry you feel that way Tmax.
Last time I checked, Magic isn’t a white”good ol boy”….. I feel the Dodgers were a bit harsh with Urias, considering the circumstances….
No but he is a minority stock owner. The CEO CFO & President are the power guys as it is in every corporation
I had earlier made the comment about paying her off/ I did not mean that she was making this up or not injured. It’s simply that the way the legal system and press work makes it difficult for women that have been assaulted. One of our daughters was assaulted and she would do anything to prosecute him including all the negative BS but the police department screwed up the evidence. Many of our daughters, nieces, cousins, and women, in general, want it to go away as fast as possible so as not to be made to relive the assault or take the abuse at a trial. In this case, as choking etc was allegedly on the table it will be more of he said she said. Although putting a person in the hospital will be difficult to defend.
I’m so sorry to hear about your daughter.
The choking, yes. But she did not consent to being knocked unconscious, and then being hit and sodomized while unconscious. This is a great read about what’s happening with that –
https://twitter.com/andylanechapman/status/1411036465878941696?s=21
Well, that was informative. I am of course not a lawyer but it sounds to me like Bauer’s lawyers may have made a tactical error. Has he admitted guilt of a felony?
This will play out in the legal arena as it will. I just don’t see how the Dodgers and Bauer can coexist going forward.
She’s from San Diego, someone from the Padres organization is paying her to try and ruin the Dodgers. Follow the money .
Lay off the kool-aid, my dude
Yea, that is pretty far fetched. I do wonder what kind of issues a 21 year old woman who seeks rough sex from a celebrity over the internet might have and how many other such relationship she has partaken in. Whatever issues she may have doesn’t excuse Bauer from his actions. And very foolish to put himself in such an involvement. Twice!
The integrity of the Dodgers is at stake here. If what I have read about Bauer relative to his assault on Rachel Luba, he should be released from the Dodgers.
Where did you hear this?
While I agree that as more information comes to light Bauer is not looking like a good fit for the Dodgers, The Dodgers have some guilt here as there were plenty of very concerning warning indicators that were heatedly debated on Think Blue with several cranky people taking their toys and storming off the site FOREVER!! The problem the Dodgers have is unless they do this by the book they could be forced to pay Bauer his entire contract. They must do this according to the contract terms and within the stricture of the Labor Contract. They will have the MLB and the Players Union down on them if they do not. Unfortunately, the Players Union has been very tone-deaf about players’ indiscretions.
His suspension was just extended another 7 days, with the MLBPA in agreement
Yes, they are all tap-dancing around the elephant in the room. They will wait until the Pasadena Police finish their evaluation and see if Bauer is charged. This has the potential to be a slow-motion train wreck. Dodgers hands are tied until everything has come out and if he is charged. Just because you are charged does not mean he is guilty according to the law. So if he is charged what action does the MLBPA, The MLB, and the Dodgers take? Do they wait for a conviction?
I would ‘think’ that if he’s charged, especially with many charges, as I personally think there are more women out there, that they would finally do the right thing and release him. I was looking to see what’s happened with Ozuna, but he’s on the injured list so I guess the worry about administrative leave isn’t as rushed
His behavior and attitude has no place in baseball. Of course he did it. He admitted to it. He should be kicked out of baseball for the good of the sport and I won’t support or view dodger games until he is no longer on the team.
Reading some of the commentary in the media has enlightened me this aspect of the law. If you seriously injure someone even if that person requests it you are guilty of in this case battery.
A person cannot give consent to battery.
There will be a lot of talk and he said she said but the crux is u can’t beat a person up! Especially if they are unconscious! He has already admitted to that verbally. He was done for as soon as the police got involved and especially when his team released the texts.
Are you sure about that? I read:
Legal Defenses
Some common legal defenses include:
consent (that is, the alleged victim actually consented to the act),
insufficient evidence, and
false allegations / innocence.
Under the law, you cannot consent to anything, ANYTHING, when you are unconscious. He was hitting her and sodomized her while he was unconscious, and she had not agreed to the anal before she was unconscious. He cannot go with consent. That’s why they released those text messages. His legal team is also sending her medical reports, name, and photos to bloggers and writers. Basically, telling that if there are others they will release all their info too. They know they are in deep, hence taking the low road every chance they get
Scoop, I’m sure. It gets very tangled as many men have used consent as a reason for rape. That is why Bauer’s defense team is attempting to degrade this woman which is the defense of most predators.
If she gave consent as soon as she was unconscious any type of defense for his assault went away. He has admitted to punching her while she was unconscious! How could a person consent to that? Allegedly he also sodomized her while unconscious.
This is going to be a horrible public relations nightmare for the Dodgers. This is what they get for not doing their due diligence on this guy’s character. There was lots of smoke out there they should have done some forensics on the cause of the fire!
There are some good articles out about the law and also about what a horrible in-between situation the Dodgers are in as this drags on.
I do understand all that, I just haven’t read the law that says consent is abandoned if the consent led to unconsciousness. Law has its own language and it often doesn’t make sense to those who don’t practice it. I’m not defending Bauer, I think he has to go, but I have seen up close and personal what lawyers and courts can do to common sense.
Scoop, I posted this before but it covers it pretty well
https://twitter.com/ring_sheryl/status/1410995408025817096?s=21
https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2021/7/2/22559260/trevor-bauer-sexual-assault-allegations-flirtation-text-messages-and-consent
Ok, I had to google who Vera Bergelson is. I read a few of the links contained therein. Got it.
I’m sure there is legal precedent here. And when it’s used, Bauer will likely be convicted. I say likely because I am not naive regarding legal bias that exists when it comes to people of wealth, power, and celebrity. Sounds like he’s guilty of assault. Misdemeanor. What’s the minimum sentence for that conviction? Looks like maybe it’s $1,000 and up to 6 months.
I don’t know of course but if I had to guess I’d say as a multi-millionaire celebrity he’s on roller skates and he will sign a few autographs for the cops and the judge and skate away from this. $1,000 will certainly happen. 6 months won’t. Probation. What will MLB and the Dodgers do? You wanna venture a guess on that? What’s precedent there? There’s a long list, ranging from a couple of games to a season. Nothing like this though.
Pasadena Police stated they were following other information. I doubt Bauer does any jail time. But It’s all about the MLB and the For the Good of the Game/Morality type verbiage in all the contracts. I personally think Bauer has some unresolved issues with women that he should have addressed years ago. To heal himself he needs to face his fears.
I doubt Bauer pitches for the Dodgers again this year. But like Scoop I have seen some true miscarriages of justice. We have been involved in supporting some women and it is hard to believe what some people get away with especially when they have tons of money. Our legal system is incredibly biased in favor of the wealthy it is not about justice. Follow the money.