Trevor Bauer’s complaint against MLB

He emerged relatively unscathed from two legal battles, first when a Los Angeles judge denied the woman’s request for a restraining order and then when the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges. But MLB conducted its own investigation into that incident and eventually others, and reportedly interviewed at least two other women who made similar allegations to The Washington Post. And on April 29, three weeks into the 2022 season, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred acted with unmistakable force, suspending Bauer for 324 games, the equivalent of two full seasons. That was twice as long as any player suspended since MLB and the MLB Players Association launched their joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy in August 2015.

Now, the validity of that decision is largely in the hands of one man. His name is Martin Scheinman, and he is the umpire currently under contract with MLB and the MLBPA. Beginning Monday, and possibly for several weeks, Scheinman will be the chairman of the panel for Bauer’s grievance hearing against MLB, and will ultimately decide whether his suspension is upheld, reduced or overturned.

It’s a process that dates back to the 1970s, but in recent years has dealt mostly with suspensions related to performance-enhancing drugs – Bauer is the first of 16 players suspended under the domestic violence policy to challenge his suspension.

“The drug issue is a scientific pursuit,” said a veteran umpire who used to preside over MLB grievance hearings. “It’s objectively verified. This is a very different circumstance.”

How the process works
The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) describes grievance hearings as “a cooperative effort to review and secure facts that will enable the Arbitration Panel to make fair decisions.” Scheinman will be the head of a three-person arbitration panel that also consists of an MLB representative and an MLBPA representative and is expected to issue the tie-breaking decision. That panel’s decision will be “full, final and complete,” according to the previous CBA. (The new CBA has not yet been published, but the language on grievance hearings has not changed, according to a source.)

Grievance hearings typically take the form of a trial, with witnesses called to testify and cross-examine. However, instead of a courtroom, these hearings are usually held in meeting rooms and, in this case, could be conducted by videoconference. The full list of witnesses for and against Bauer will be confidential, as will the rest of this process, but one of the women who spoke to The Post said she is willing to testify. (MLB does not have and, under its domestic violence policy, is not authorized to publicly disclose the findings of its investigation. It is unknown how many women the league has spoken to or what allegations have been made.)

These are “parties with unlimited resources, very demanding clients on both sides, so this is full-blown litigation,” said the former arbitrator, who preferred not to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter. “It’s going to be like litigation in federal court.”

Scheinman is the fourth umpire since 2000 to be hired by MLB and the MLBPA, which have the power to replace umpires at will. First it was Shyam Das, who was fired by MLB after overturning Ryan Braun’s steroid suspension for a chain-of-custody issue in 2012, ending a 13-year streak. Then it was Fredric Horowitz, who was fired by the MLBPA after ruling against infielder/outfielder Charlie Culberson in an injury assignment case in 2016. Then it was Mark Irvings, who was fired by MLB shortly after ruling in his favor in Kris Bryant’s hearing on alleged service time manipulation in 2020.

Scheinman, who declined to comment on the case, was retained in 2020. A full-time arbitrator and mediator since 1979, he has resolved more than 20,000 disputes, according to his firm’s website. The website states that his practice, Scheinman Arbitration & Mediation Services, has “mediated dozens of the highest profile cases involving sexual harassment allegations,” but says nothing about domestic violence.

Scheinman’s schedule is so demanding that two assistants at his firm are solely responsible for managing it. He presides over hearings five days a week and is hired by a multitude of law firms, a reality that could prolong Bauer’s grievance hearing well into the summer, according to sources familiar with the process.