Trevor Bauer has reached an agreement with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Japan Central League.
2020 National League Cy Young Award Winner Unveiled by the Los Angeles Dodgers on January 12, three weeks after a referee reduced his suspension imposed by baseball commissioner Rob Manfred from 324 to 194 games. The sanction followed a domestic violence investigation, which the pitcher has denied.
“Playing in NPB has always been a dream for me and I can’t think of a better organization to do it with,” Bauer said in a statement Monday, referring to Nippon Professional Baseball.
The BayStars said Bauer will wear uniform No. 96.
“To all the BayStar fans, I am very excited for the opportunity to be a part of the great team we have this year and try to bring home a championship,” Bauer said. “And to all the Japanese baseball fans out there, I can’t wait to see you at the stadium soon. Please come say hi and help me learn more about your great country. See you soon!”
Bauer is owed about $22.5 million from the remainder of his three-year, $102 million contract with the Dodgers. The suspension has cost him approximately $37.6 million in salary.
Manfred suspended Bauer last April for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy.and, after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually assaulted her in 2021. Bauer has maintained he did nothing wrong, saying everything that happened between him and the woman was consensual.
Bauer was never charged with any crime.
The players’ association filed a complaint on Bauer’s behalf, and a three-person panel headed by Martin Scheinman ruled on Dec. 22 that Bauer violated MLB policy and deducted his pay for the first 50 games of 2023, covering part of the period. in which the pitcher was on paid leave in 2021 and ’22.
Bauer joined his hometown Dodgers prior to the 2021 season and went 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts before being suspended.
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In February 2022, Los Angeles prosecutors decided not to charge Bauer for allegedly beating and sexually assaulting the San Diego woman because they said they could not prove their allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
The woman, who was 27 at the time, said Bauer strangled her unconscious, repeatedly punched her and sexually assaulted her during two sexual encounters.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault.
Bauer said in a video posted to YouTube after the prosecutor’s decision that he and the woman had rough sex at her suggestion and followed the guidelines they agreed to beforehand. Each encounter of hers ended with her spending the night at her Pasadena home, he said.
“The disturbing acts and behavior that she described simply did not occur,” he said at the time.
The woman had applied for a restraining order, but a judge denied it. The judge found that Bauer respected the woman’s limits when she set them, and could not have known about the ones she violated because she did not express them clearly.
Bauer was an All-Star in 2018 and is 83-69 with a 3.79 ERA in 10 seasons for Arizona (2012), Cleveland (2013-19), Cincinnati (2019-20) and the Dodgers. He won the National League Cy Young Award with Cincinnati during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
