Trevor Bauer‘s career has gone south after the 2020 season, in which he won his first NL Cy Young with the Cincinnati Reds.
He signed a three-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 but was placed on administrative leave by MLB in July of that year after some graphic sexual assault allegations were made against him.
While the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that they would not be filing any criminal charges against the pitcher because of an alleged lack of evidence in February 2022, the league still suspended him for 324 games in April of that year.
An appeal reduced that penalty to 194 games, but the damage was already done.
The Dodgers released him on January 12, 2023 and no MLB wants to get near him.
As a result, the right-hander’s future will be tied to the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league for the foreseeable future, at least.
This was not international baseball news I was expecting today:
Trevor Bauer has signed with the Yokohama BayStars. pic.twitter.com/NjDDqay25n
— Shawn Spradling (@Shawn_Spradling) March 13, 2023
The first one to report Bauer’s signing with the Yokohama DeNa BayStars was Yuki Yamada of Sankei Sports.
Bauer, according to the report, has agreed to a one-year, $4 million contract with the BayStars.
The deal is still pending a physical and also includes performance-based incentives.
The 32-year-old remains capable of dominating even the best lineups on the mound.
In 2021, prior to being suspended, he was sporting a cool 2.59 ERA in 107.2 innings with the Dodgers.
The off-the-field baggage is just too much for any MLB to handle at the moment.
He will try to resurrect his career in Japan, but it’s pretty clear that his career earnings have been severely affected by the allegations.
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