Rocio Robles
The long wait for a Major League ruling in the Trevor Bauer case finally came after the Commissioner’s Office reported a severe and historic punishment for the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher.
According to a statement released Friday afternoon, MLB suspended the pitcher for 324 games (two full seasons) for violating the league’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.
The suspension, effective April 29, is the longest in the history of the policy and will not take into account the days he has been on administrative leave since July 2. In addition, Trevor Bauer, who signed a three-year, $102 million contract with the Dodgers in 2021, will lose about $60 million since he will be without pay until he completes his suspension.
Bauer immediately announced through his Twitter account that he will appeal MLB’s sanction, as he denies having committed any act that violates the policy.
Trevor Bauer has not played in the major leagues since last July, when a woman claimed that between April and May 2021, Bauer took consensual rough sex too far at his home in Pasadena, California. He choked her unconscious on multiple occasions, scratched and punched her all over her body, sodomized her without consent, and left her with injuries that required a trip to the emergency room.
In August, the Washington Post published a story about a second woman, from Ohio, who filed for a temporary restraining order against Bauer in June 2020 and also accused him of assault. However, after months of investigations, both cases were dismissed and Bauer was not punished for either one.
With the 31-year-old pitcher exempt from any civil penalties for the time being, it appears that MLB must make a stronger case for the evidence it has against Bauer, because with a suspension as severe as the one imposed on him, the evidence against him should be irrefutable, considering that other players who have been found guilty by the ordinary justice system received a lesser punishment from the Commissioner.
The future of Trevor Bauer’s career
If Trevor Bauer’s appeal is unsuccessful, when the suspension expires in April 2024, the pitcher will be a free agent due to the fact that his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers expires after the 2023 season.
Negotiating a new contract under these circumstances will not be easy for the National League Cy Young winner in 2020, since few organizations will surely be interested in dealing with a figure like Bauer within their team, who was already known to be a somewhat complicated character and now will have to add his behavioral problems.
Bauer has also demonstrated that he seldom gives in, so finding a team ready to pay him the money he believes he is worth will be difficult.
While many players suspended for doping or domestic violence have been able to return to the circuit, Bauer’s physical condition will have to be analyzed after almost three years of inactivity and due to the fact that he’ll be 34 years old.
Obviously, the right-hander has the option to keep playing in other leagues such as the Asian leagues, but in a culture as conservative as Japan or China, it would be strange if any team would be willing to give him a contract.
Of course, the starter’s appeal could be successful, and if his suspension is cut short, he will be free to return to the Dodgers, who will have to decide whether to keep him for the remainder of his contract or take another stance about it.
Bauer has 10 seasons of major league experience and his best year came in the 2010 season with the Reds. He is 83-69 overall, with a 3.79 ERA and 1,416 strikeouts in 1297.2 innings of work. When he tries to put together his comeback to the Majors, he’ll have to press these figures to the limit.
