What’s next for the career of Trevor Bauer
The last time Trevor Bauer took the mound, he seemed to have reached the pinnacle of his pitching career. By the summer of 2021, the talent that made him a first-round pick and the curiosities that unlocked cutting-edge coaching regiments finally converged. He was a reigning Cy Young Award winner who was among the best winners and best players in his profession, a legitimate ace in one of the sport’s most celebrated pitching staffs. Then everything changed.
And now it’s fair to wonder if Bauer’s major league career might be over.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, after much more deliberation than many anticipated, have made sure Bauer’s career does not continue in their organization. On Friday they placed Bauer on assignment, two weeks after his suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy was cut from 324 to 194 games. Bauer is expected to go through the waiver system and officially become a free agent next Friday. The Dodgers will have to pay Bauer $22.5 million of his 2023 salary but would save $720,000 if another team signs him for the minimum. And now the prevailing question is: Will any team do it?
The industry outlook, if it can be summed up in one phrase: Unlikely, but not impossible.
The most common answer was very close to what a rival general manager stated plainly in a text message on the night of Dec. 22, moments after an independent arbitrator ruled that Bauer, who had already served 144 games of suspension in 2022, would be docked pay for the first 50 games of the 2023 season but reinstated immediately.
“I don’t expect anyone to sign him,” the general manager wrote.
Bauer’s punishment ultimately was reduced by 40%, but the arbitrator who spent parts of eight months reviewing findings and hearing testimony ruled, however, that he deserved what still amounted to the longest suspension under the domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy jointly agreed to by MLB and the MLB Players Association in August 2015.
Bauer, 31, is the 16th player suspended under that policy and the first with more than one publicly known accuser. He has three: the San Diego woman who triggered MLB’s investigation, alleging Bauer essentially took consensual rough sex too far, and two other women who made similar accusations to the Washington Post.
Jeff Luhnow’s Houston Astros took a similar approach, acquiring prominent closer Roberto Osuna from the Toronto Blue Jays in July 2018, less than three months after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting the mother of his child. The Cleveland Browns instead acquired star quarterback Deshaun Watson in March 2022 and subsequently signed him to a record deal, despite the fact that more than two dozen women have filed lawsuits against him for sexual misconduct. Talent often transcends morality, and professional sports are rife with examples.
However, Bauer would pose a unique challenge to a potential new employer, according to a rival executive. As he described, it’s not just the stain on an organization’s reputation or the backlash from its fans or the general negativity that would surround it, it’s that Bauer hasn’t shown an ounce of remorse throughout this process. In fact, he has taken the opposite approach, fighting every accusation vehemently.
In that regard, Bauer’s public response to the arbitrator’s ruling was blunt: just a brief tweet, consisting of 18 words and two emojis.
It was a compendium of how Bauer has dealt with the sexual assault allegations that have been brought against him; a reminder that he doesn’t care and doesn’t feel compelled to account for his missteps or apologize to those who were hurt by his actions. It also hinted at what’s to come: an uncertain future in the majors for a man who doesn’t think he should be in doubt.
Suspensions of Bauer’s length have been extremely rare in the MLBPA’s 56-year history, giving players an avenue to fight the lifetime bans that were often enforced in previous decades.
