Trigger warning – sexual abuse content
A decision has finally been made in the Trevor Bauer case. On Friday afternoon, the Los Angeles Dodgers designated Bauer for assignment. They will now have seven days to trade him or release him from the organization. His time with the Dodgers organization has come to an end.
The team put out this statement when their decision was announced –
The decision had been a long time coming. Bauer, 31, was signed to a three-year, $102M deal by the Dodgers in 2021. He pitched in only 17 games for the Dodgers, going 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA.
His season was ended in June 2021 when multiple sexual abuse allegations were made against him. On July 2, 2021, the league suspended him, incremental weeks at a time, while they investigated the allegations.
Three women in total came out accusing the bombastic pitcher of abuse during their sexual encounters. Bauer maintained that it was all consensual, even though recordings of him seem to prove otherwise.
After almost a year, on April 29, 2022, the league finally made a decision and suspended the right hander for 324 games. It was the longest non-lifetime suspension ever handed down by Major League Baseball.
On December 22, that suspension was reduced to 194 games by an independent arbitrator, which meant that Bauer would eligible to return to pitch in the Majors in 2023. The Dodgers then had two weeks to decide whether they were going to honor the last year of Bauer’s contract, try to trade him, or release him.
Lets be clear – this reduction in time of suspension in no way vindicates Bauer. In fact, the arbitrator affirmed that Bauer did indeed violate the league’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy, and did indeed deserve to be suspended. The full details of the investigation will not be released to the public.
The Dodgers are still on the hook for $22.5M. Bauer is free to sign with any other team for the league minimum $750,000 after his suspension is completed, 50 games into the 2023 season.
There are reports that the Dodgers tried to trade Bauer in the last two weeks, but there wasn’t much interest from other teams in that department.
For his part, Bauer released this statement after the announcement –
Thus ends the much maligned association between the Dodgers and Bauer. The front office stated they had had many conversations with Bauer about changing his ways, not doing things to be a distraction to the team on and off the field. However, sexual assault allegations are way above and beyond any stupid drone incident or chucking a ball into centerfield in a tantrum on the field.
Hopefully now the Dodgers can move on and focus on the 2023 season, in their quest to work their way back to the World Series.
Dodgers are a $4-5 Billion corporation. The team has strived to be a team known as a great partner in the community. Bauer is a public relations disaster. Personally I am glad they released him. Let’s see how this much younger Dodgers team performs by end of year. Give them the opportunity to acclimate. Go Blue!
Time to move on, although I absolutely don’t understand Bauer’s statement about the team telling him they wanted him back yesterday and then today doing a complete 180.
Is he lying about that?
Did AF want him back, but Mark Walter overruled him? You’d think that discussion would have been had long ago.
As Tmax said, it’s time to see what the kids can do and which team will wind up signing Bauer. I’d be shocked if he didn’t wind up with a contract from some team.
I can’t see anybody picking him up. I believe that more teams prioritize public relations than you think. If he spends a few seasons in Korea or Japan showing that he has grown up a little bit, maybe he’ll pitch in the MLB again one day.
Keep in mind that fans in other cities weren’t exposed to nearly as much negative Bauer publicity as we were here in L.A. where it happened. Here it was an ongoing story but in other cities not as much detail was going back and forth in the media on a regular basis because he wasn’t one of their players.
Chapman shot off a gun next to his girlfriend and when the Yankees signed him there was hardly any negative reaction from their fans.
Ozuna strangled his girlfriend/wife and was taken back as soon as the suspension was lifted.
We’ll just have to disagree on this one. Let’s say the unofficial bet is he has to have signed with an MLB team by opening day or you can declare yourself the winner.
If you win, I’ll send you an autographed card. You can pick from Xavier Paul, Jerry Sands or Scotty Elbert. No joking.
Since I’m assuming I’m going to win, I’ll take Xavier.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any cards left from my collection as a kid and none of those was autographed. You’ll just have to settle for bragging rights if you win.
Maybe someone would grab him if he showed some type of remorse. Not for any wrongdoing (because he didn’t necessarily violate the law) but rather all the embarrassment and headaches he caused the Dodger organization. However, I don’t think he has the humility to do something like that. Even though he didn’t necessarily do any wrongdoing.
Watch the Padres sign him. Boy would that be a show.
I can’t see the Giants signing him in a million years, but somehow he fits the Pads to a tee.
My original thought was maybe a team like the pirates, marlins, or royals might sign him, and try to flip him to a contender at the deadline. A team in a heated playoff race might consider lowering their morals a little. Buuut,
After reading Jeff’s post I think he’s spot on. I can definitely see the Pads signing him, they have the little brother chip on their shoulder, that they use for motivation, they need another starter, and Bauer has a chip on his shoulder that’s so big it would supply enough lumber to build a house. He fits there like a glove.
Now that we weren’t able to dump any of Bauers money, I wonder who will get traded, between now and the deadline, to give the team some breathing room against the CBT.
Take your pick:
Freddie Freeman 1B $20,000,000 –
Clayton Kershaw SP $20,000,000
Mookie Betts RF $17,000,000
Chris Taylor 2B $15,000,000 – –
Max Muncy 1B $13,500,000 – –
Noah Syndergaard SP $13,000,000 –
J.D. Martinez DH $10,000,000 – –
Blake Treinen RP $8,000,000 – –
Daniel Hudson RP/CL $6,500,000
Muncy or Taylor.
Those two seem the most logical, but I really hesitate to trade Muncy. I think we need his bat considering all the kids who are likely to play and haven’t proven anything yet at the MLB level.
That leaves CT3 and I think another team only takes that contract (3 x $15k) if we send along some money.
I’d love to get AF’s explanation as to how important it is to stay under the first tier of penalties this year. If it’s absolutely imperative, we could be in for a difficult season unless everything (injuries and young guys performing as hoped/expected) goes perfectly because we won’t be able to do much in July.
I’m thinking Freeman. Would free up years of cap space. And don’t forget that down on the farm we’ve still got….. Oops scratch that
On the farm we’ve still got……………………………Justin Yurchak. First baseman. Lifetime MiLB batting average over .300 and he doesn’t strike out.
On the negative side, he’s already 26 and has no power.
But…………………………he won’t cost 20 mil.
Bye bye Freddie. Thanks for the memories. We didn’t want to do it but Gordon made us!
Ah Jeff you give me to much credit. And I agree with your comments on Bauer. Middle if the rotation at minimum salary. Teams don’t really care, and half the cities never heard of him and it will be an easy spin ” like he is innocent “. Also agree padres would pick him up to spite the dodgers. Get ready to pay up Dennis. And those cards are extremely rare I’m guessing.
Taylor is virtually untradeable coming off his injury riddled sub par year in 2022 and his remaining contract. I think the Dodgers will stick to their guns to stay under the CBT at least until the All Star break.
Jeff, you’ve got me thinking again, and we know how dangerous that is. Andrew is no dummy, he plans for everything, he knew Bauer getting reinstated was a possibility, yet he gave contracts to Martinez, and Syndergaard. Because of this, I’m going to assume that they can cross the threshold if he chooses to, No one from the FO has come out to say they had to do a reset on the CBT, so until I hear it come out of Stan Kasten’s mouth, I’m going to ignore whole, stupid CBT.
It’s not smart financially to keep going over the CBT. The Dodgers answer to a board. Going under every 3-4 years is an intelligent way to skirt the edges of the CBT. If the Dodgers can reset then they can go over for a few years. Personally I am looking forward to the team with young guys and to watch them grow. I think Syndegard is going to be great.
If Thor is great, as you say, the incentives built into his contract will be enough by themselves to push us over the CBT.
I bet CT3 is checking MLBTR every 5 minutes or so. Muncy, not as likely to be traded is probably only checking once an hour.
Huh! you are right again. They would need to pay half Taylor’s salary to trade. We will see how into Ohtani they are depending on their actions. With a huge Japanese base in LA it makes sense to go after him.
There are a lot of “smart business” teams that stay under the cap, but never win. The Walters ownership group has made 2 billion dollars in equity since they purchased the team, not counting the yearly profits, they can afford to go into the CBT if they choose to. I think it’s more likely that they cross the first tier tax threshold, than that they trade one of those players Jeff listed.
None of listed players will be traded and Bauer will end up in an Independent League this
Year if not Mexico or Korea. If he’s good some team will come knocking. How much penalty is enough, too much?