Disgraced ace Bauer signs with team in Japan
Trevor Bauer, the former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher whose career was derailed following multiple sexual assault allegations, agreed to pitch for the Yokohama DENA Baystars, a Japanese team.
Bauer, who won the National League Cy Young Award in 2020, was serving a record suspension for violating MLB’S domestic violence policy when he was reinstated by an arbitrator in December. Since being reinstated, he had sought a return to the majors.
The last time Bauer signed a contract, it was for $102 million over three seasons with the Dodgers, a deal announced with a news conference on the field at Dodger Stadium. This time, Sankei Sports, a newspaper in Japan, broke the news of Bauer’s signing. According to that article, Bauer’s singleseason contract is for 400 million yen, or roughly $3 million.
The team confirmed Bauer’s signing Monday evening, posting a video in which Bauer, 32, said that playing in Nippon Professional Baseball — his new league — “has always been a dream of mine and I can’t think of a better organization to do it with.”
Bauer’s representatives did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The Dodgers will still be on the hook for $22.5 million owed to Bauer in 2023. If he had signed with an MLB team, that team — which probably would have acquired him for the league minimum — would have only offset his Dodgers salary. But because Bauer signed with a foreign club, the Japanese salary will be in addition to the Dodgers’ pay.
In January, a representative for Bauer told The Washington Post that he was “negotiating with multiple MLB teams for a new contract.” But the overseas deal suggests MLB teams passed on a former ace dogged by a string of similar allegations made by women since an initial accuser emerged in June 2021.
After that woman sought a restraining order against Bauer, alleging he had strangled her unconscious and repeatedly punched her during a sexual encounter that resulted in her hospitalization, more women came forward with similar allegations of nonconsensual violence during sex.
Following a lengthy investigation in April, MLB suspended Bauer for 324 games, or two full seasons, the longest suspension in the history of its domestic violence policy.
Bauer appealed, leading to a months-long confidential hearing during which at least two of his accusers testified against him. An arbitrator reduced the suspension to 194 games.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles declined to charge Bauer for the alleged sexual assault, and a judge there denied his initial accuser’s request for a restraining order. Bauer has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has never publicly expressed contrition concerning the allegations against him. Instead, he has gone on the offensive, including by filing an ongoing defamation lawsuit against one of his accusers. — Gus Garcia-roberts
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