Trevor Bauer is Reportedly Off to Pitch in Japan

Trevor Bauer is signing with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization in Japan, per @YamadaSANSPO

The contract is for one year and $4 million plus incentives pic.twitter.com/snHhFgUINX

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 13, 2023

Los Angeles Dodgers cut ties with embattled pitcher Trevor Bauer

The Los Angeles Dodgers cut ties Friday with starting pitcher Trevor Bauer, the embattled former Cy Young Award winner who was previously handed an unprecedented suspension following allegations of sexual assault.

Bauer was designated for assignment, which means the Dodgers have until 2 p.m. ET Thursday to find a trade partner. If they can’t, Bauer will be placed on unconditional release waivers. If he clears those, which is considered the likely scenario, he will become a free agent the following day.

The Dodgers’ decision came two weeks after an independent arbitrator trimmed Bauer’s suspension from 324 games to 194, reinstating him immediately but docking his pay for another 50 games to begin the 2023 season. The ruling triggered a 14-day window for the Dodgers to decide whether to add him to their 40-man roster.

Dodgers’ Trevor Bauer has suspension reduced from 324 to 194 games - The Athletic $

I have read that the Dodgers would release him if the suspension were lifted. If that’s true, he’d then become a free agent. Fabian Ardaya says, “Dodgers have until Jan. 6 to either put Trevor Bauer back on the 40-man roster or release him, as others have said.” If that does happen, will he be blackballed by the other teams in the league or will some team take a chance on him?

Trevor Bauer’s 324-game suspension for violating the league’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy was reduced to 194 games by an arbitration panel Thursday.

Bauer’s suspension remains the longest to be handed down under that policy since it went into effect in 2015.

MLB said in a statement it would “abide by the neutral arbitrator’s decision.” Bauer, who will miss the first 50 games of the season, will be eligible to return on May 24, 2023, the league said.

Trevor Bauer’s defamation case against accuser’s former attorney could be thrown out

Bauer argued he had been defamed in part because Thiagarajah told the Washington Post “there’s no doubt Mr. Bauer just brutalized” the woman, a finding evidence had “established to 100 percent certainty.” Bauer noted the Los Angeles County district attorney declined to charge him with a crime, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman denied the woman’s request for a restraining order.

In his tentative ruling, Selna wrote Thiagarajah spoke in his role as an advocate for the woman. Selna also said Bauer “conspicuously omits” in his complaint Thiagarajah’s subsequent comment in the Post story: “The issue was whether or not she consented to the abuse.”

Wrote Selna: “Judge Gould-Saltman herself stated that [the woman’s] injuries were ‘terrible.’ Bauer does not present any compelling argument as to why Thiagarajah’s using a synonym of the court’s own language misstates the court’s findings. Rather, the state court’s decision to deny [the restraining order] was premised on insufficient evidence of consent and the threat of future harm, not on doubts as to whether Bauer inflicted the ‘terrible’ injuries.”

In her ruling, Gould-Saltman cited “the injuries as shown in the photographs,” which the woman included in the request for the restraining order.