Dodgers cut ties with Trevor Bauer and assign him to an assignment
The Dodgers drafted Trevor Bauer on Friday, ending their ill-fated $102 million investment in the former Cy Young Award winner.
Bauer only played 17 games for the Dodgers before being placed on administrative leave in July 2021 and beginning a series of off-field fights stemming from sexual assault allegations against the 31-year-old. He hasn’t appeared in a major league game since then.
The Dodgers now have seven days to trade Bauer or place him on irrevocable full waivers. The latter scenario would officially end his employment with the team, but would hold the Dodgers responsible for paying Bauer’s 2023 salary unless another team claims him.
If Bauer clears the waivers, another team can sign him for the major league minimum salary ($720,000). The Dodgers would then owe Bauer the remainder of his 2023 salary.
The stigma of Bauer’s suspension — the longest in MLB domestic violence and sexual assault policy history — could also deter any team from signing Bauer in the first place.
In December, a referee reduced Bauer’s original two-year suspension to 194 games, allowing him to play in 2023. The referee also raked in Bauer’s pay for 50 games, or about $9.46 million of his original $32 million salary.
Bauer was the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner when he signed his lucrative free agent contract with the defending champion Dodgers. Bauer’s homecoming from the San Fernando Valley was derailed in short order.
In June 2021, a San Diego woman accused Bauer of sexual assault based on their encounter in April of that year, although criminal charges were never filed against him. Bauer went to court to successfully challenge a restraining order and aggressively defended his actions as part of a consensual dispute. He later accused the woman in court of defamation.
Further allegations have since surfaced. An Ohio woman filed for a restraining order against Bauer in 2020, the Washington Post reported. A second woman in Ohio came forward with allegations of violent sexual encounters with Bauer in April 2022.
Her allegations — along with those of the San Diego woman, whose counterclaim to Bauer’s defamation lawsuit is still active — were reportedly presented in evidence by MLB when Bauer appealed his suspension.
For their part, Dodgers players and officials have been reluctant to speak of Bauer since he was first placed on administrative leave, preferring to let the legal system and MLB make their judgments first. The December referee’s verdict effectively forced the team to decide whether to give up the last year of his contract or endure the stigma of hiring him.
“The Dodgers Organization believes that allegations of sexual assault or domestic violence should be thoroughly investigated with due process given to the accused,” the team said in a statement announcing Bauer’s DFA. “From the beginning, we have fully cooperated with the Major League Baseball investigation and strictly followed the process outlined in the MLB Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.
“Two comprehensive reviews of all available evidence in this case – one by Commissioner Manfred and another by a neutral referee – concluded that Mr Bauer’s actions warranted the longest-ever active player ban in our sport for violations of this policy. Now that this process is complete, after careful consideration, we have decided that he will no longer be part of our organization.”
Bauer’s defamation suit, which he filed against the San Diego woman in April in US District Court in April, is pending trial. On Friday, he filed a response to the woman’s counterclaim, again denying her allegations of assault and acknowledging that she agreed to being choked. In response, Bauer called for a jury trial “in all matters so negotiable.”
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/01/06/dodgers-cut-ties-with-trevor-bauer-designate-him-for-assignment/ Dodgers cut ties with Trevor Bauer and assign him to an assignment
