Dodgers’ Bauer is forced to take leave
Major League Baseball announced Friday afternoon that Dodgers starting pitcher Trevor Bauer has been placed on administrative leave while it continues investigating sexual assault allegations against him.
Administrative leave is not a suspension.
Bauer will continue to get paid. He will, however, not make his scheduled Sunday start.
The same process took place two years ago when Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias was found to have violated MLB’s domestic violence policy. He was placed on administrative leave while MLB investigated and ultimately was suspended 20 games.
Administrative leave can last up to seven days. If MLB feels it needs more time to complete its investigation, it can extend the leave with the players’ union’s permission. The Dodgers can replace Bauer on the active roster while he’s on administrative leave.
“MLB’s investigation into the allegations made against Trevor Bauer is ongoing,” the commissioner’s office announced. “While no determination in the case has been made, we have made the decision to place Mr. Bauer on seven-day administrative leave effective immediately.
“MLB continues to collect information in our ongoing investigation concurrent with the Pasadena Police Department’s active criminal investigation. We will comment further at the appropriate time.”
Bauer has been accused by a woman of choking her until she lost consciousness on multiple occasions, punching her in several areas of her body and leaving her with injuries that required hospitalization over the course of two sexual encounters earlier this year, according to a domestic violence restraining order that was filed in L.A. County Superior Court this week.
The alleged incidents took place at Bauer’s home in Pasadena on April 21 and May 16, and are being investigated by the local police department.
In a statement responding to the woman who was granted the restraining order, a 27-year-old who resides in San Diego, Bauer’s representatives said, “any allegations that the pair’s encounters were not 100% consensual are baseless, defamatory, and will be refuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Bauer’s side plans to deny the account during a hearing scheduled for July 23, according to his representatives.
Bauer was in Washington with the team and was on the field working out before Thursday’s game. He has the right to appeal the imposition of administrative leave but his representatives, Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba, released a statement Friday indicating he would not appeal.
“We reaffirm our original statement and refute (the woman’s) allegations in the strongest possible terms,” they said in the statement. “Mr. Bauer will not appeal MLB’s decision to place him on administrative leave at this time in an effort to minimize any distraction to the Dodgers organization and his teammates.
“Of note, administrative leave is neither a disciplinary action nor does it in any way reflect a finding in the league’s investigation.”
Dodgers team president Stan Kasten emphasized the need to let the investigative process play out.
“I think the procedures that are in place which have been agreed upon with the union are the correct, the proper, the best way to get all the facts and to get the right outcome,” Kasten said at Nationals Park on Friday. “All of us have personal opinions and views — all of us with the team, all of us on the staff, all of our fans, all of our families – we all have personal views. But for now, I think it is best the way it is being handled, professionally by the commissioner’s office which has unfortunately some experience in these matters. I trust that process to get us where it needs to go.
“These are never good things to have around you. But again … we don’t know what this is. So I think we really need to let the process play out.”