Los Angeles Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer has been suspended for two years for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first to report the news. Bauer announced shortly after that he will appeal the ban.
It’s the longest suspension ever handed out for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy. Bauer, 31, last pitched for the Dodgers on June 28, 2021, before he was put on administrative leave. He made 17 starts for LA after signing a three-year, $102 million contract. The suspension will extend beyond the expiration of his deal.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred can discipline players for violating the league’s rules even if they are not charged with a crime. Sixteen players have been suspended under the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy, with suspensions ranging from 15 to 162 games. Bauer is the first to not agree to a negotiated settlement.
“In the strongest possible terms, I deny committing any violation of the league’s domestic violence & sexual assault policy,” Bauer said in a statement Friday. “I am appealing this action and expect to prevail.”
Bauer’s two-year suspension begins today and will expire at the end of the 2023 seasons, amounting to 324 games. Suspended players are not paid.
On administrative leave, Bauer has already missed 111 games. If he was willing to consider a settlement withe league, he could have negotiated for some or all of those games to be counted as part of the discipline. If he loses the appeal, Bauer will miss 435 games.
Bauer has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women. He won’t face criminal charges from allegations from a San Diego woman, who testified that the starting pitcher choked her with her own hair and and punched her in the face and vagina while she was unconscious.
He recently filed suit against that accuser, who sought a restraining order against him, claiming her court action was part of a “malicious campaign” to damage his reputation. Bauer has also filed suit against multiple media outlets, accusing them of biased coverage.
A woman from Ohio previously made similar allegations as the San Diego woman and also sought a temporary order of protection in 2020.
Bauer and his agents have repeatedly denied allegations against him.
League policy defines sexual assault as: “a range of behaviors, including a completed nonconsensual sex act, an attempted nonconsensual sex act, and/or nonconsensual sexual contact. Lack of consent is inferred when a person uses force, harassment, threat of force, threat of adverse personnel or disciplinary action, or other coercion, or when the victim is asleep, incapacitated, unconscious or legally incapable of consent.”
With his appeal, Bauer will likely have to convince the league that a suspension is unwarranted because he did nothing wrong and that the alleged encounters were unconventional but consensual and not sexual assault.