MLB and MLBPA agree to extend Trevor Bauer’s administrative leave through April 16
Trevor Bauer will not begin the season with the Dodgers.
Major League Baseball and the players’ union agreed Thursday to extend Bauer’s paid administrative leave through April 16, into the second week of the regular season. Bauer had been put on leave March 11 through Sunday after finishing the 2021 season on leave.
The Dodgers open their season April 8 against the Colorado Rockies. Bauer will miss at least the team’s first eight games. The league and union could agree to extend the leave longer or suspend him before the leave expires.
Bauer was cleared last month of criminal charges after he was accused of sexual assault last June, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has the power to suspend him if the league rules he violated the league’s sexual assault policy. Manfred could also delegate the discipline to the Dodgers.
The Atlanta Braves disrespected Freddie Freeman, a franchise icon, and now he has a chance to lead the Dodgers back to a World Series.
The league is expected to pursue an interview with Bauer as part of its investigation.
“Mr. Bauer is cooperating with the MLB investigation and looks forward to resolving its matter,” Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba, the agents for Bauer, said in a statement. “He continues to prepare for the 2022 MLB season. Administrative leave is not a disciplinary action nor does it in any way reflect a finding in the league’s investigation.”
The league is expected to suspend Bauer. The Dodgers are proceeding as if he will not pitch for them in the foreseeable future.
Without Bauer, the Dodgers have six healthy major league starters in camp: Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urías, Andrew Heaney, Tony Gonsolin and David Price. Gonsolin and Price are vying for the rotation’s fifth spot. Acquiring a starter to bolster the rotation remains a possibility.
“For us, the guys that are in camp, that’s who all of our focus has to be on,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Monday.
Bauer hasn’t pitched for the Dodgers since he was initially put on administrative leave July 2. He still received his entire $38 million salary and signing bonus in 2021. He’s scheduled to make $32 million this season. Bauer would lose salary during a suspension.
With Freddie Freeman in the fold, Dodgers believe they have the pieces needed to compete for a World Series championship.
Last June, a San Diego woman, in a petition seeking a restraining order against Bauer, alleged he sexually assaulted her. The restraining order was denied in August.
Last month, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office opted to not file criminal charges against Bauer. The pitcher then published a video in which he confirmed having “consensual rough sex” with the woman and denied “the disturbing acts and conduct” she alleged.
He later requested the Pasadena police department supply cell phone records that his attorneys argued in court filings could illustrate the woman’s intentions to “ruin [Bauer’s] reputation and career and to earn a large paycheck by making false and misleading allegations.”
The woman’s attorney has asked that the subpoena be thrown out. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 4.
Bauer, as of Thursday, will be on administrative leave then, guaranteeing that the Dodgers will begin the 2022 season as they ended 2021: with Bauer away from the team staring ahead at an uncertain future.
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