Trevor Bauer suspended for two seasons

[NBBrewFan]

MLB Suspends Trevor Bauer for 2 SEASONS.

[reillymcshane]

Wow. The hammer has fallen. And hard.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33827168/los-angeles-dodgers-trevor-bauer-suspended-two-seasons

[tmwiese55]

37 minutes ago, NBBrewFan said:

MLB Suspends Trevor Bauer for 2 SEASONS.

Not gonna claim I've dug deep into this, only surface level basics.  But this seems pretty extreme to me, considering he's basically already been suspended a year.   Best I could tell this suspension goes from here, the least almost year isn't counted in that. Could've misread though.      I'd guess this is going to be a long legal battle, lawyers on each side are buying new boats as we speak. 

[Jopal78]

28 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

Not gonna claim I've dug deep into this, only surface level basics.  But this seems pretty extreme to me, considering he's basically already been suspended a year.   Best I could tell this suspension goes from here, the least almost year isn't counted in that. Could've misread though.      I'd guess this is going to be a long legal battle, lawyers on each side are buying new boats as we speak. 

Manfred has unilateral authority to suspend him; the Dodgers are a powerful club with influential owners and want him gone. I doubt the MLBPA is going to deem it it worth further sullying their reputation zealously advocating for him.
 

Even if his suspension is  cut on appeal (which I doubt if he has to make his case to Joe Torre or whomever is underneath Manfred) he’s most likely gone through the end of the 2023 season. 

He’s either an abuser of women, or so profoundly stupid he didn’t realize inviting women he never met face to face ( who contacted him on social media) over to his home in the middle of the night was an idiotic idea. Good riddance.

[NBBrewFan]

1 hour ago, tmwiese55 said:

But this seems pretty extreme to me, considering he's basically already been suspended a year. 

He's been on administrative leave and receiving full salary since last May.  So he basically made $35M waiting for MLB to decide. 

[torts]

2 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

Not gonna claim I've dug deep into this, only surface level basics.  But this seems pretty extreme to me, considering he's basically already been suspended a year.   Best I could tell this suspension goes from here, the least almost year isn't counted in that. Could've misread though.      I'd guess this is going to be a long legal battle, lawyers on each side are buying new boats as we speak. 

Suspended a year with pay.  Dudes made 32 million dollars on administrative leave.

Good riddance to toxic people.  This will set a precedence, even if in appeal it's knocked down to a year.  

[markedman5]

 

[tmwiese55]

Ok there it is, there's more info and accusations now, not just the one which he had all those texts backing himself up..   Now it makes sense.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

That is pretty severe for unproven allegations.  The DA said they did not have enough evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.  Seems like 2 year unpaid suspension and 1 year paid suspension for a guy already in his 30s is pretty strict.  I'm no fan of Bauer and think he is a jerk but that is quite the precedence.

[timpep]

2 hours ago, ClosetBrewerFan said:

 I'm no fan of Bauer and think he is a jerk but that is quite the precedence.

My worry is that the real precedence being set is that if you criticize mlb leadership they will drop the hammer and punish 4x the average player when the time comes. I might be cynical but I truly don't believe he would have gotten this harsh of a penalty if not for being so outspoken on issues in the past.

[jerichoholicninja]

If this is what they deemed an appropriate punishment they should have banned him for life. I don't know what sort of evidence the league has that makes them think that a 2 year ban fits the crime but not kicking him out for good. This seems like a "we don't have any real proof of anything but we need good PR" suspension. I suppose it doesn't really matter since unless something drastically changes with his accusers no MLB team is ever going to sign him again anyway.

[folly412]

Was just reminded of this zinger from Brett Anderson while he was pitching for us last year. 

[Tbadder]

Okay, let me start by saying that I think Trevor Bauer is a first class jerk. Emotionally, I’m pleased that his punishment was severe. However, I’m also somewhat uncomfortable with this brand of justice when he’s been legally absolved. I do consider him a questionably ethical person, but should my opinion about an unproven accusation be a reason to cost someone their job. 
 

A further complication comes when we consider the history of such accusations when it comes to celebrities. Many times celebrities are trapped by those looking to make a buck, and yet it’s just as true that often celebrities think they can take advantage of those who are attracted to them. Furthermore, and more than just a little obvious, is that none of us were there. None of us were privy to testimony and material evidence. This makes us less than qualified to pass judgement. 
 

But most of all, we are naturally prone to draw conclusions on limited information. I’m as guilty as anyone of this, and so we (I) too often make judgement on people’s personalities and since Trevor Bauer lacks a compelling set of personality traits we (I) are prone to hate on him and wish him the worst. This natural propensity stands in direct opposition to the rule of law and so can be dangerous if we (I) get it wrong. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

20 minutes ago, Tbadder said:

Okay, let me start by saying that I think Trevor Bauer is a first class jerk. Emotionally, I’m pleased that his punishment was severe. However, I’m also somewhat uncomfortable with this brand of justice when he’s been legally absolved. I do consider him a questionably ethical person, but should my opinion about an unproven accusation be a reason to cost someone their job.

Never use the criminal burden of proof in place of other burdens of proof. For obvious reasons, the burden of proof is at its absolute highest when a person's freedom hangs in the balance.

There's a good chance Bauer loses a civil suit(s), where the burden of proof is lower.

And even lower than that is the burden of proof of a private employer that usually has contractual stipulations surrounding character, behavior, and improprieties.

[Dragonbait]

6 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Never use the criminal burden of proof in place of other burdens of proof. For obvious reasons, the burden of proof is at its absolute highest when a person's freedom hangs in the balance.

There's a good chance Bauer loses a civil suit(s), where the burden of proof is even lower.

And even lower than that is the burden of proof of a private employer that usually has contractual stipulations surrounding character, behavior, and improprieties.

He is also suing the women as well. So that trial will bring even more to light.

[Tbadder]

I do not know about about civil suits as I’m not an expert in anyway, but I am well versed on private employer contractual stipulations concerning character, behavior, et al, and these are all too often abused by employers in order to get rid of inconvenient people who have inconvenient ideas. These kind of stipulations are more times than not devices that simply are used to threaten and make people kowtow to the boss. I’m more than happy to comment on countless individual cases. 

[Jopal78]

3 hours ago, Tbadder said:

I do not know about about civil suits as I’m not an expert in anyway, but I am well versed on private employer contractual stipulations concerning character, behavior, et al, and these are all too often abused by employers in order to get rid of inconvenient people who have inconvenient ideas. These kind of stipulations are more times than not devices that simply are used to threaten and make people kowtow to the boss. I’m more than happy to comment on countless individual cases. 

Standard of proof in civil suits: “more probably true than not”. In other words 51-49.

If he’s merely a kinkster, with his money, he could buy what he wanted in every major city in the world.

That he’s picking up women of social media, having them come to his house without having met them first, tells me he’s a fool, and the destruction of his career and reputation is likely inevitable. 

[torts]

There are multiple allegations.  Sexual assault/abuse are some of the hardest cases to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, they have less than a 10% conviction rate.  So just because the DA didn't move forward doesn't mean it's not true, and as we're seeing now, there are more than one incident that MLB was aware of.

[Robocaller]

On 4/29/2022 at 4:18 PM, Jopal78 said:

Manfred has unilateral authority to suspend him; the Dodgers are a powerful club with influential owners and want him gone. I doubt the MLBPA is going to deem it it worth further sullying their reputation zealously advocating for him.
 

Even if his suspension is  cut on appeal (which I doubt if he has to make his case to Joe Torre or whomever is underneath Manfred) he’s most likely gone through the end of the 2023 season. 

He’s either an abuser of women, or so profoundly stupid he didn’t realize inviting women he never met face to face ( who contacted him on social media) over to his home in the middle of the night was an idiotic idea. Good riddance.

Free sex is a bad idea? 

[KeithStone53151]

I do find it a bit weird and inconsistent that Marcell Ozuna can grab his wife by the throat and throw her into a wall, and get "time served" while he's injured anyways and come back the following season, but Bauer gets a 2 year suspension for supposedly consensual albeit freaky and weird conduct. If you delve into the details of the 2 Bauer cases, there were multiple episodes with each individual woman...it's hard to say you didn't want it when you come back freely. That said, it's generally just weird because what he's accused of is so gross and heinous, it in general just feels bad and feels wrong even if there was supposed consent. At the end of the day, I think his suspension has plenty to do with his prior antics as well as his current accusations. Objectively, it was far too harsh in my opinion considering how MLB has handled off field conduct violations...that said, I don't really care and also wouldn't care if he got blackballed after his suspension is over.

Sidenote, I'm still not over Marcell Ozuna getting more or less no penalty whatsoever and him currently playing baseball. If there was video, it would be like Ray Rice all over again and the penalty would instantly change. But with no video, fans don't care.

[NBBrewFan]

Lots of good comments so far.  I'll point out/highlight a few things that are important for me. As far as I know, Bauer never denied the injuries the women (both) received and that he committed.  His "defense" has been that they agreed to it. I don't know the statistics, but I am guessing that about 1 person in 1,000 agrees that physical harm and pain are important parts of their "sexual" experiences.  Anger has no role in consensual sexual experiences (all jokes aside).  Most of us teach our children through our words and actions that this is unacceptable and has no role in a loving relationship or even one-time encounter.  There's already too much anger and abuse outside the bedroom to in any way condone/tolerate it in the bedroom.  I think he actually should have received a lifetime ban.  Unfortunately, he does have some significant issues that he needs to deal with when he needs to inflict pain on his sexual partner either for pleasure or for reaching his "peak".  This is not an anger management issue, this is the need for inflicting pain to achieve sexual arousal. I will bring out the old cliche that he is an example to our children.  He is and anything, but the maximum penalty, is justified in this instance,. His idea of a sexual relationship should be in textbooks as deviant behavior (excuse me if it is as I never read that textbook) and not in any way should he benefit in his current profession from these activities. And this shouldn't be held up to other instances for equity in punishment as each case is unique and most of the others have vastly different circumstances. It's part of the game that those in different positions have different standards to uphold and punishments for breaking those standards. That's the way it is and, as was mentioned, we aren't discussing freedom we are discussing earnings and livelihood. As a parent this is one of the evils that keeps us up at night worrying about. My wife and I have raised 5 kids (2 daughters) and we hope and pray that we set an example where they would never get into a situation like a meet-up with someone like Trevor Bauer (or our sons believing that behavior is acceptable).  Thankfully he's so open about his pathology that most women would just pass him by, but let's not pretend he was "outed" by his accusers, his social media posting and "honey trapping" behavior was out in the open. And it sucks for him that he was so outspoken in his previous criticism of the Commissioner while he was out there openly advertising his interest and participation in this reprehensible behavior. 

[SRB]

Not sure why everyone keeps saying the allegations are "unproven" just because the Los Angeles DA declined to prosecute with respect to one accuser. I guarantee you MLB has far greater resources and did a far greater investigation than any DA office in the country. Like, exponentially greater. This is a multi-billion-dollar institution that knows it will now be facing a massive countersuit from Bauer's team.

Knowing Bauer's public persona, I would guess that the punishment is in part so severe because he was uncooperative during the investigation.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Why would you say it is "proven".  I have seen no evidence, video or other physical evidence.  Our law says "innocent until proven guilty".  That does not say I dont believe he could be guilty.  Just that legally, it has not been proven he is guilty.  I think its the correct term.

[DuWayne Steurer]

49 minutes ago, ClosetBrewerFan said:

Why would you say it is "proven".  I have seen no evidence, video or other physical evidence.  Our law says "innocent until proven guilty".  That does not say I dont believe he could be guilty.  Just that legally, it has not been proven he is guilty.  I think its the correct term.

There are pictures of the women he beat into unconsciousness easy enough to find on the web, and he freely admits doing it, and the face of the one woman clearly exhibits quite a bit of physical damage.  I won't re-post those pictures on this site.  

[CheeseheadInQC]

On 4/30/2022 at 11:00 AM, timpep said:

My worry is that the real precedence being set is that if you criticize mlb leadership they will drop the hammer and punish 4x the average player when the time comes. I might be cynical but I truly don't believe he would have gotten this harsh of a penalty if not for being so outspoken on issues in the past.

If I am leaning into an alternative explanation for the length of the suspension I might look more toward the Dodgers having no intention of ever bringing him back (and thus perhaps pushing for the longest penalty possible) than Bauer’s past antagonism toward baseball leadership.