Stewart takes issue with Dodgers’ handling of Bauer
Irate at the Los Angeles Dodgers for failing to suspend Trevor Bauer before Major League Baseball intervened, former A’s ace Dave Stewart told USA Today he will not be attending the Dodgers’ celebration of their 1981 World Series championship later this month.
Last week, a woman, 27, filed a domestic violence restraining order against Bauer, alleging he hit and choked her without her consent during a sexual encounter at his home in Pasadena.
The allegation was made public Wednesday, but as of Thursday, Bauer was still scheduled to pitch in the team’s game Sunday against the Washington Nationals.
MLB placed Bauer on seven-day administrative leave Friday and is continuing its investigation. If MLB feels it needs more time, it can extend the leave with the players’ union’s permission. A hearing in Bauer’s case is scheduled for July 23.
The Dodgers have said they were waiting for MLB to make a decision, but Stewart, who is an A’s analyst for NBC Sports California, feels the team could have acted before the league office stepped in.
“The organization isn’t what it was when we came through,’’ Stewart
told USA Today. “The Dodgers organization that I grew up in under the O’Malley family would never stand for that. The Dodgers should have stepped up in that situation, and they didn’t. You’ve got to have character standards.
“I told them, ‘I can’t show up for that.’ ”
According to a domestic violence restraining order that was granted, the woman alleges that Bauer, 30, strangled her while having sex with her until she lost consciousness on multiple occasions, repeatedly punched her in the face during sex, and left her with injuries that required hospitalization.
According to the declaration attached to the request for a restraining order, the woman, in one encounter with Bauer, suffered two black eyes, a bloodied swollen lip, significant bruising and scratching to one side of her face.
The Pasadena Police Department is also investigating the allegations, which Bauer’s attorney, Jon Fetterolf, had denied, saying, “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.”
Marc Garelick, the woman’s attorney, said last week that incidents left his client with “severe physical and emotional pain.”
Stewart, who grew up with six sisters, said the images he saw of the woman were deeply disturbing.
“The Dodgers let MLB enforce the leave of absence,’’ Stewart said, “but in my opinion, you don’t need to wait for MLB to tell you what to do. Why are you putting your hands on a woman that way? He tries to say it was consensual, but what kind of person would ever do that?”
As of Monday, no criminal charges have yet been filed. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said last week that he and the organization would “support whatever decision Major League Baseball makes.”
Stewart said when he informed the Dodgers why he would not be attending the 40th-anniversary celebration of their 1981 world championship, the team responded with an email that read, “The team and the Players Associations support the player until he’s guilty.’’
Stewart said he responded with an email in capital letters: “HE BROKE THE UNWRITTEN RULE ON HOW YOU SHOULD TREAT WOMEN!”
Reached via email by this newspaper, a Dodgers spokesperson said the team would not comment on Stewart’s statements.
Bauer signed a three-year, $102 million deal with the Dodgers in February.