Dodgers Executives Speak On Trevor Bauer Decision For First Time

Nearly a month after officially cutting ties with pitcher Trevor Bauer, the Los Angeles Dodgers are finally speaking out on their decision, saying that the main

decision-makers were "unanimous" in releasing Bauer following his 194-game suspension.

Dodgers club president Stan Kasten says “we did feel we did make the right decision” as club brass makes its first public comments since releasing Trevor Bauer. https://t.co/mBREN1Vh7f

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) February 2, 2023

Controversy arose when Bauer tweeted, after his release, that he was surprised by the Dodgers' decision, because executives he spoke with "wanted me to return and pitch for the team this year." Club president and CEO Stan Kasten addressed that in his statement, saying only "I'm not going to 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."

As for speaking with Bauer before they made the decision, Kasten admitted as much, but wouldn't discuss it. "I don’t want to talk about what happened at the meeting. I don’t think that’s fair. 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.”

“We took the time to get as much input as we could to be sure we were making the right decision,” Kasten added. “That’s what we did. We feel we did make the right decision.”

The Dodgers had signed Bauer to a three-year, $102M contract in February 2021, but he only made 17 starts for them before being put on the restricted list for the rest of the 2021 season after he was accused of assaulting a woman during sex. Commissioner Rob Manfred subsequently levied a record 324-game suspension on Bauer for violating the league's domestic violence and sexual assault policy. That suspension was reduced to 194 games by an arbitrator.

Bauer remains a free agent, able to sign with any team that will have him. 

 Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports