Editors’ note: This story contains graphic accounts of domestic violence and sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault or domestic violence, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
Nearly a week after designating him for assignment, the Dodgers announced on Thursday that they had granted Trevor Bauer his unconditional release. Bauer is now a free agent and can sign with any of the other 29 clubs.
Bauer had previously had his 324-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy reduced to 194 games, making him immediately eligible to pitch in the 2023 season. His new team would pay him the $720,000 minimum, while the Dodgers still owe him $22.5 million.
Bauer, who will be 32 this month, has not pitched since June 2021 while on administrative leave before eventually receiving the suspension. It remains the longest suspension for domestic violence in MLB history.
MLB suspended Bauer in April for two full seasons after a nine-month investigation, which began when a San Diego woman filed a petition seeking a restraining order against him June 29, 2021. The woman said Bauer assaulted her during two encounters of rough sex that began consensually. She said he choked her until she lost consciousness, sodomized her and punched her hard enough that she sought treatment at a hospital.
“I felt like my soul left my body, and I was terrified,” the woman said during a hearing in August, according to the Associated Press. Bauer and his representatives have denied the allegations.
Following the August hearing, the woman was denied a restraining order. The court ultimately found that the woman’s claims were “materially misleading,” and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman said the only evidence of anything happening while the woman was unconscious was from being “hit on the butt.”
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office decided in February 2022 not to file criminal charges against Bauer. Three months later MLB suspended him, and Bauer later appealed.
Per The Washington Post, MLB investigated two reports made by other women: one that occurred in 2017 and another dating back to ‘13. Both women were from Ohio, and the former sought a temporary order of protection in ’20. It was granted; however, she dropped it after six weeks. The latter woman said that Bauer choked her unconscious without consent during multiple encounters. Bauer denied both allegations, and authorities did not press charges in either incident.
Bauer and his legal team have continued to deny the allegations. Bauer filed separate defamation lawsuits against at least two media outlets and the San Diego woman, who countersued him, alleging battery and sexual assault. In November, a judge denied Bauer’s petition to dismiss her countersuit.
