LA Dodgers chiefs insist cutting ties with Trevor Bauer is the ‘right decision’ as they speak out for the first time since releasing the right-hander after he was accused of sexual assault
The Los Angeles Dodgers top brass has spoken out on their decision to release right-hander Trevor Bauer, insisting it was the ‘right’ move.
The team’s top executives broke their silence regarding Bauer, who last pitched in June 2021.
Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman expressed no regrets Wednesday about the team’s decision to release right-hander Trevor Bauer last month.
He was placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball in the next month after he was accused of sexual assault.
Despite never facing criminal charges and denying all allegations against him, Bauer was handed a 324-game suspension in April 2022.
Los Angeles Dodgers top brass insist cutting ties with Trevor Bauer is the ‘right decision’
On December 22, the punishment was cut to 194 games on appeal, reinstating him at that point while ordering him to forgo his pay for the first 50 games in 2023.
The Dodgers had 14 days from the appeal ruling to decide if they would activate Bauer or release him, and they finally designated him for assignment on the last day of that window. He was officially released on January 12.
Kasten acknowledged the Dodgers met with Bauer the day before cutting ties with him.
Bauer issued a statement saying club officials told him they ‘wanted me to return and pitch for the team this year.’
Kasten said Wednesday: ‘I’m not gonna get into contradicting or agreeing with anything about what was supposed to be a private conversation.
‘I’ll just say within a very short time we came back and made our decision. I think that speaks for itself.
‘I don’t want to talk about what went on, what was discussed, what wasn’t discussed or who was there. But we did hear from him.
‘I thought it was the right thing to do. I’m happy that we did it, along with everything else that we did, to reach the best decision that we could. I stand by our decision. I’m very comfortable with it.’
Bauer was the National League Cy Young Award winner with the Cincinnati Reds in 2020
He added: ‘We all had a strong feeling all the way through the process of the right way to handle this.’
Friedman added: ‘With the way that things transpired, we feel good about our decision to move on.’
Friedman said the Dodgers did not make an immediate decision on Bauer in part because the ruling occurred around the holidays and Kasten was about to go on vacation.
Kasten added: ‘We had the time. Check all our bases, get all the info you could get to make a decision, which we did, and that included hearing from Trevor because we hadn’t spoken to him since the beginning of this.
Bauer has not thrown a pitch since June 2021 and was put on administrative leave by the MLB
‘And because we had the time, we took the time to get as much information as we could to be sure we were making the right decision. That’s what we did. We feel like we made the right decision. And we’ll move on.’
Bauer, 32, remains a free agent. The Dodgers owe him $22.5 million of the $32m he was due to make in 2023.
Bauer was the National League Cy Young Award winner with the Cincinnati Reds in the abbreviated 2020 season after going 5-4 with a 1.73 ERA in 11 starts. He signed a $102m, three-year free agent deal with the Dodgers in February 2021.
In a 10-year major league career with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2012), Cleveland (2013-19), Cincinnati (2019-20) and Los Angeles (2021), Bauer has an 83-69 record with a 3.79 ERA in 222 games , including 212 starts.
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