Facing the finals, the Dodgers cut ties with Trevor Bauer

The team will still pay Bauer $22.5 million for 2023 even if he doesn’t play for them. The pitcher was found to have violated the M.L.B.’s domestic violence policy. Trevor Bauer’s tumultuous season in Los Angeles is over. Two weeks after a judge overturned Bauer’s suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy, effectively reinstating him, the Dodgers released a statement saying he “will no longer be a part of this organization”.

Officially, Bauer, whose 324-game suspension was reduced by an arbitrator to 194 games, was designated for assignment, a procedural decision that removed him from the organization and gave the Dodgers seven days to train him or be released. It was an expensive move as the Dodgers were required to pay him $22.5 million for 2023 – a figure that was reduced from his full salary as part of the arbitration process.

If the Dodgers do not trade Bauer – which is expected – he will be released, and the next step will be to see if another company will be willing to take a chance on the player of the division of history. who lost his home in Arizona and Cleveland. , won the National League Cy Young Award in Cincinnati during the 2020 short-season pandemic and built on that success to sign a three-year, $102 million contract in Los Angeles. Bauer, 31, is eligible to play immediately. If another club signs him, the team will pay for a minimum fee of $720,000, and the Dodgers pay the remaining amount of $22.5 million. The decision to leave Bauer comes after a career in Los Angeles quickly fell apart. In July 2021, a few months after joining the Dodgers, M.L.B. launched an investigation after several women came forward with allegations of sexual assault. Bauer, who is accused of hitting and beating the women in what he says was a violent affair, has not been convicted of any crime but was later found guilty by M.L.B. violates the domestic violence law. The team does not share details of its investigation. The league and the players’ union appointed an independent arbitrator, Martin F. Scheinman, to hear Bauer’s complaint. Scheinman ruled that Bauer violated the rules, but reduced the suspension from 324 to 194 games, giving Bauer proper credit for time served.

Even with the cut, the suspension is the longest of its kind in the M.L.B. history, and Bauer will end up losing $37.5 million in wages, which is the highest penalty resulting from the domestic violence and sexual assault law.

When M.L.B. De Bauer’s future is up in the air, and the Dodgers made it clear on Friday that he will not be coming with their team. After the judge’s decision, Los Angeles has 14 days to return Bauer to the 40-man roster or release him for assignment. The team chose the latter. “Now that the process is complete, but after careful consideration, we have decided that he will no longer be part of our organization,” the Dodgers said in a statement.

Bauer, who is the highest-paid free agent entering the 2021 season, joined the Dodgers after what the team described as a thorough investigation into preseason events, including two high-profile social media controversies alleged by women. charges of intimidation. But things came together quickly. Just three months into his first season in Los Angeles, sexual assault allegations began to surface and Bauer was placed on administrative leave. He has not appeared in a game since June 28, 2021.

In the team’s statement, the Dodgers said they have “fully cooperated with Major League Baseball’s investigation” and found that “two thorough reviews of all the evidence in this case — by Commissioner Manfred and the other by someone who – neutral judge – concluded that Mr. Bauer’s behavior warranted the suspension of the longest serving player in our game for violating this rule.

Shortly after being released by the Dodgers, Bauer released his own statement, through his lawyers, saying that as recently as Thursday, the Dodgers told him they wanted him back. “After two weeks of discussions about my return to the organization, I met with Dodgers management in Arizona yesterday who told me they want me back on the pitch for this year,” Bauer said in the statement. “While I am disappointed with the meeting’s decision today, I am grateful for the support I have received from the Dodgers club. I wish the players the best and look forward to competing elsewhere.

Although the meeting in Arizona with the team’s leadership took place on Thursday – the club’s first meeting with the pitcher since July 2021 – the manager of the Dodgers, spoke on condition of anonymity due to the understanding of the situation , denied that the group told him. Bauer wants him back, noting that their decision to nominate him for the job on Friday speaks for itself.

Bauer was Arizona’s first recruit for U.C.L.A. in a 2011 journal. He played just four games for the Diamondbacks in 2012 before the club traded him to Cleveland. There, while helping lead Cleveland to the World Series in 2016, he suffered while working on the drone enough to force him into a playoff game against Toronto. Cleveland dealt him to Cincinnati at the trade deadline in July 2019, three days after angering manager Terry Francona and others by throwing a baseball across center field in frustration during a game in Kansas City while the manager was on his way to ‘hill to take it out. .

The Dodgers had just won the 2020 World Series when they signed him as a free agent in the winter to join a rotation that included Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Julio Urías (who served his own 20-game suspension for the violation the league’s domestic violence policy in 2019). Bauer is coming off a Cy Young title winning season with the Reds.

Known for having one of the best clubhouse cultures in the game, the Dodgers believe that by adding Bauer to their mix, they can overcome his history of domestic and outdoor affairs. . It was an experiment that only made 17 starts and cost the Dodgers more than $64 million.