The Los Angeles Dodgers were both lauded and criticized when they signed Trevor Bauer to a three-year, $102 million contract that at the time made him the highest player in MLB history.
Although Bauer had a history of social media misgivings and questionable outbursts, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman assured the team did their due diligence and were confident the right-hander would be a positive addition to the organization.
Five months later, MLB placed Bauer on administrative leave amid sexual assault allegations. He remained on the restricted list throughout the rest of the 2021 season and into the following year before Rob Manfred announced a 324-game suspension in April 2022.
Bauer was ultimately released by the Dodgers, and there had been conflicting reports over whether or not players in the clubhouse would welcome him back. While working as a Fox Sports correspondent during the 2023 postseason, Mookie Betts became the first Dodgers player to speak publicly about Bauer.
During an interview with Ryan Morik of Fox News, Bauer expressed his appreciation for Betts:
Bauer called Betts’ comments “a breath of fresh air.”
“Obviously, it’s a tough landscape for players to come out, coaches to come out and say things publicly, and I get that. So, I’m super appreciative that he said those things,” Bauer said.
Bauer added he had received similar comments in private but Betts speaking publicly was all the more appreciated:
“You can go through my texts and pull up countless examples of that,” Bauer said. “It’s nice when some of the private support is shown publicly.”
Betts caused a stir when he spoke fondly of his former Dodgers teammate and explained that opinion stemmed from having positive interactions with Bauer.
Betts seemingly was alone in being willing to share such a perspective, as the Dodgers regularly distanced themselves during MLB’s investigation and in releasing Bauer.
“The Dodgers organization believes that allegations of sexual assault or domestic violence should be thoroughly investigated, with due process given to the accused,” the team said in a statement at the time.
“From the beginning, we have fully cooperated with Major League Baseball’s investigation and strictly followed the process stipulated under MLB’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.
“Two extensive reviews of all the available evidence in this case – one by Commissioner Manfred and another by a neutral arbitrator – concluded that Mr. Bauer’s actions warranted the longest ever active player suspension in our sport for violations of this policy. Now that this process has been completed, and after careful consideration, we have decided that he will no longer be part of our organization.”
Is Trevor Bauer returning to MLB?
After spending a season pitching for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), where he was an All-Star, Bauer is looking to make his return to MLB.
Several teams are in need of starting pitching but it’s unclear if there’s been much traction toward Bauer potentially signing.
As part of his comments, Betts said he hoped to see Bauer return to a Major League mound.
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