Dodgers cut ties with pitcher Trevor Bauer after MLB reinstatement, 194-game suspension
The Los Angeles Dodgers designated Trevor Bauer for assignment Friday, ending a two-season partnership with the pitcher who was recently reinstated after a 194-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.
An independent arbitrator reinstated Bauer on Dec. 22 and the Dodgers had two weeks to decide whether they would put the player back on their roster. The team must now trade or release him.
“Two extensive reviews of all the available evidence in this case – one by commissioner [Rob] Manfred and another by a neutral arbitrator – concluded that Mr. Bauer’s actions warranted the longest ever active player suspension in our sport of this policy,” the Dodgers said in a statement on Friday.
“Now that this process has been completed, and after careful consideration, we have decided that he will no longer be part of our organization.”
Bauer’s 2023 salary is $35.3 million but he won’t be paid for the first 50 games of the season as part of the arbitrator’s ruling – meaning the Dodgers are still on the hook for the entirety of his $22.5 million salary.
The 2020 National League Cy Young winner, Bauer signed a three-year, $102 million contract with the then-defending champion Dodgers in Jan. 2021.
Bauer made 17 starts for his new team but was placed on administrative leave July 2 after an acquaintance accused him of sexual assault in June 2021; Bauer and his legal team argued that their two encounters were “wholly consensual.”
He remained on administrative leave through the end of the season and the league suspended him 324 games in April 2022 – the entirety of the 2022 and ’23 seasons.
In a statement Friday, Bauer claimed the Dodgers told him a day earlier that the team wanted him to return and pitch for them.
“While we were unable to communicate throughout the administrative leave and arbitration process, my representatives spoke to Dodgers leadership immediately following the arbitration decision,” Bauer said in his statement.
“Following two weeks of conversations around my return to the organization, I sat down with Dodgers leadership in Arizona yesterday who told me that they wanted me to return and pitch for the team this year.
“While I am disappointed by the organization’s decision today, I appreciate the wealth of support I’ve received from the Dodgers clubhouse. I wish the players all the best and look forward to competing elsewhere.
If Bauer is released, another team can sign him for the league minimum of $720,000,
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trevor Bauer DFA’d by LA Dodgers after domestic violence suspension
Source: Yahoo Sports
