Dodgers’ Trevor Bauer reinstated after suspension cut to 194 games
Bauer’s legal representatives and his employer, the Los Angeles Dodgers, were informed of the arbitrator’s decision Thursday afternoon, ending a seven-month grievance process and adding to the story that has been unfolding over the past year and a half. It brought some clarity.
Bauer has only been suspended for 144 games, but mediator Martin Scheinman has effectively acknowledged his time on MLB’s restricted list later in the 2021 season. Bauer said he will be without pay until his first 50 games of the 2023 season, but he is set to officially return on Friday.
The Dodgers then have 14 days through Jan. 6 to decide whether to release him or add him to their 40-man roster.
The Dodgers didn’t expect a decision until sometime in January, but were caught off guard when they were notified three days before Christmas and learned of the outcome of the ruling about 30 minutes before MLB issued a statement to the media. I was. He told ESPN that the situation is close. The Dodgers responded with a short statement, “We have just been informed of the arbitrator’s ruling and will comment as soon as it becomes realistic.”
Bauer’s legal team, consisting of John Feteroff, Sean Holly and Rachel Luba, also issued a statement, saying, “While we are pleased that Mr. Bauer has been reinstated so quickly, we do not agree that any disciplinary action should have been taken. Bauer is looking forward to getting back on the field and his goal is to help his team win the World Series.”
Bauer is in the final year of a three-year, $102 million deal with the Dodgers in February 2021. The Dodgers said he plans to save about $28 million in salary in 2022 and about $9.5 million in 2023, potentially falling below the luxury tax threshold. Even if the Dodgers fire him, Bauer is guaranteed the rest of his $22.5 million salary.
Despite the cuts, Bauer’s suspension is the longest in more than seven years of the domestic violence policy jointly agreed by MLB and the MLB Players Association in 2015.
In a statement Thursday, MLB said, “While we believe a longer suspension was warranted, MLB has decided that a neutral arbitrator’s decision upholds the longest active player suspension in history for sexual assault or domestic violence. “We understand that this process has been difficult for the witnesses involved, and we appreciate their participation. Due to the collective bargaining confidentiality of the joint program, we are not providing further details at this time.” I can not do it.”
Bauer, a 31-year-old former Cy Young Award winner, has faced sexual assault allegations since a San Diego woman obtained a temporary restraining order against him near the end of June 2021. increase. The woman, who ESPN chose not to name, said two other women in Ohio had filed similar assault allegations with the Washington Post, which Bauer and his team of attorneys also disputed. I’m here.
The LA District Attorney’s Office declined to press charges against Bauer in February, but MLB suspended him for 324 games on April 29. Bauer then became the first player to appeal, and his three-member committee, consisting of one of his representatives from the MLB, another from the MLBPA, and his Sheinman, who was appointed by both parties, found the findings. and interview witnesses to maintain, reduce, or eliminate suspensions.
Subsequent grievance hearings began on May 23 and sprawled through the end of December. The San Diego woman said she testified three times, a source familiar with the matter said. One of the Ohio women also testified, but another recanted, according to the Post.
Bauer has not pitched since June 20, 2021. The next day, a then 27-year-old San Diego woman filed a domestic violence injunction (DVRO) request. There were two sexual encounters of her at her home in Pasadena, California, in her April and her May of that year. The woman claims she was strangled multiple times, scratched and beaten all over her body multiple times, sodomized without consent, and suffered injuries that forced her to make a trip to the emergency room after rough sex. Bauer and his attorneys Fetterolf and Luba denied the allegations in their initial statement, calling them “fraudulent” and “unfounded.”
MLB placed Bauer on administrative leave for the first time on July 2, 2021 and launched an investigation. Her two other women in Ohio have since made similar allegations to the post. In August 2021, a woman asked for her DVRO against Bauer in June 2020, accusing her of choking, beating and sending threatening messages to her without her consent during sex. did. The woman, the Post reported, dismissed her order six weeks after Bauer’s lawyers threatened to sue.The second woman said Bauer had denied her consent on multiple occasions dating back to 2013. claimed to the Post that he strangled her unconscious.
MLB said it had conducted an “extensive investigation” into Bauer’s off-field behavior, but did not provide details of the findings, nor did it reveal how many women have filed assault allegations against Bauer. Bauer, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing and posted lengthy threads on his Twitter account to show his consent to each of the three women’s accusations. After refusing criminal charges in February 2022, Bauer released a seven-minute video on YouTube in which she steadfastly denied the San Diego Women’s version of the event.
Six months after an LA judge overruled a San Diego woman a permanent restraining order, the DA’s office said it could cause serious bodily injury, unconscious person sodomy, and domestic violence. However, after hearing similar allegations from multiple women, MLB suspended him three months later, according to sources.
Prior to Bauer, 15 players had been suspended under the Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy introduced in August 2015. If they have not been charged with a crime and are not required to meet the standards of evidence beyond a reasonable doubt required by national law enforcement agencies. Excluding former reliever Felipe Vázquez, who is serving a prison sentence, the game ranged from 15 to 162 games, the result of a negotiated settlement in which the players waived their right to appeal. You are the first player to have multiple accusers.
The Dodgers canceled Bauer’s scheduled bobblehead night and removed his merchandise from stores shortly after MLB first put him on leave in the summer of 2021, but have not publicly commented on his situation. was almost non-existent. Uncertainty over the arbitrator’s decision was seen as a key reason for the Dodgers’ reluctance to cross the luxury tax threshold for the third year in a row.
In recent months, Bauer has continued to post videos on his YouTube channel of him participating in lively bullpen sessions and offering pitching tips. He issued a tweet shortly after the arbitrator’s ruling was published Thursday.
The 2023 season Vlog will be 🔥🔥! Can’t wait to see you all at the stadium soon!
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) December 23, 2022
Bauer has filed defamation lawsuits against two media outlets, Deadspin and The Athletic. He also filed a lawsuit against the San Diego woman and counterclaimed in Aug. 23. On Nov. 23, U.S. District Judge James Serna allowed the San Diego woman to proceed with the case, ruling that his former attorney dismissed Bauer’s defamation lawsuit against one of Serna said in her ruling that the denial of the initial injunction by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Diana Gould Saltman did not determine whether Bauer engaged in abusive conduct, and that neither party had asked her to do so. I wasn’t asking you to make a decision.
“State court proceedings did not necessarily determine that Bauer did not commit assault or sexual assault. [the woman]added Serna.
Bauer won the Golden Spikes Award at UCLA in 2011 and was the 3rd overall pick in that year’s MLB Draft. He clashed with a teammate in Arizona, prompting a trade after his first full season, and had two notable incidents in Cleveland before the start of the 2016 playoffs, in which he allegedly cut his finger with a drone and was ejected from the center. Threw a baseball over the field fence. Outing on July 28, 2019, three days before trading again.
Bauer clashed with Manfred over issues such as the Houston Astros’ handling of the sign-stealing scandal and the Commissioner’s efforts to market the game to younger audiences. However, he is also considered one of the most forward-looking and analytical pitchers in the sport.
Bauer claimed the Cy Young Award in 2018 and later won it during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season while with the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers signed him later that offseason, surpassing the New York Mets despite widespread criticism over Bauer’s history of bullying others on social media.
Bauer pitched like a Los Angeles ace in the first half of the 2021 season, posting a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts. He hasn’t thrown since. And now the question is whether he can pitch in the majors again.