MLB suspends Trevor Bauer for 2 years with no pay

nvalvo

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This should be career-ending for Bauer — even if he avoids prison — but it sounds to me like we need to hear from the Cincinnati Reds about why this was swept under the rug, if they somehow managed not to be aware of it.
 

JCizzle

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Trevor, not really seeing the humor in sending revenge porn to anyone's family member. JFC.
 

Rovin Romine

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I like how the cops arrested the under 21 year old because she was drunk, half dressed in Bauer's house.

Maybe supplying alcohol to a minor isn't crime there.
 

nattysez

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"The Washington Post thoroughly investigated my past, which made some of the people contacted feel uncomfortable, and found some really bad stuff" is not the defense he thinks it is.
 

Rovin Romine

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He also tweeted an exchange between himself and the woman in Ohio.

View: https://twitter.com/BauerOutage/status/1426574525089546247


He comes off as a complete dick.

(Also, do people really think other humans are infinitely flexible and malleable by will alone? I mean, if you cultivate someone to be obsessed with you how shocking is it that they're obsessed with you?)
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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He doesn't come off like a nice guy, but I'm not sure how anyone could read those messages and come to the conclusion that Bauer did anything wrong in that exchange.

How do we know he "cultivated her to be obsessed with him"?

Again, this doesnt speak to any other aspect of this situation, but that text exchange shows someone consistently messaging him, and then when she was ignored, driving 3 hours to try and force him to see her. After finally badgering him enough to get a free hotel room for her, she doesnt say thank you or just go to the hotel, she repeats multiple times again that he needs to pick up the phone and talk to her. That was clearly the goal, not to get a place to sleep ("I'll sleep on your couch! You don't even have to talk to me!" Yeah. Sure.)

Again, do we have proof that he cultivated some kind of obsession? Phrasing it this way basically makes it so, no matter her actions, it will always be Bauers fault. Again, unrelated to any of the other situations Bauer is in, he doesnt appear to be at fault in this exchange.
 

Rovin Romine

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How do we know he "cultivated her to be obsessed with him"?
You're totes right. A 28 year-old famous millionaire getting an impoverished 19 year-old hammered so he can have abusive/exploitive sex with her absolutely bears no responsibility whatever for that kid fixating on them to the degree they text a lot, when said 28 year old dumps them.

Feel free to be pedantic about the details.
 

mauidano

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I just can't fathom how someone this wealthy and famous would put himself in these potentially dangerous situations that have no positive long term outcome. All for a freakish brief interaction with strangers that he has no other relationship with. Hard to get behind him on this. He's going to get his due process but he is pretty much done with MLB. Worth it?
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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I just can't fathom how someone this wealthy and famous would put himself in these potentially dangerous situations that have no positive long term outcome. All for a freakish brief interaction with strangers that he has no other relationship with. Hard to get behind him on this. He's going to get his due process but he is pretty much done with MLB. Worth it?
Rich and famous people do terrible things all the time, even though they theoretically have a lot to lose. Why, I’m not sure..I imagine that a lot of the character traits that lead people to be rich and famous may the same that allow them to expert power over others and think they won’t be punished?
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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You're totes right. A 28 year-old famous millionaire getting an impoverished 19 year-old hammered so he can have abusive/exploitive sex with her absolutely bears no responsibility whatever for that kid fixating on them to the degree they text a lot, when said 28 year old dumps them.

Feel free to be pedantic about the details.
Ah, I actually didnt know she was only 19. That exchange makes more sense.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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This should be career-ending for Bauer — even if he avoids prison — but it sounds to me like we need to hear from the Cincinnati Reds about why this was swept under the rug, if they somehow managed not to be aware of it.
It's plausible the Reds were unaware. The initial encounter/assault happened while he was with the Indians and the application for the TRO and then its dismissal all happened during the shutdown. It doesn't seem like it ever made news of any kind at the time (not even a blurb in the court reports), so it's likely the only chance the Reds would have had to find out was if Bauer told them. I have my doubts that he would have said anything until or unless the case jeopardized his ability to play (like, a mandatory court appearance or the TRO preventing him from being in Cleveland with the team).

Bauer's toast, and rightly so. This new revelation just shows that he has a pattern of this behavior, which tosses any defense of the California incident as a misunderstanding or "kink gone wrong" out the window. He clearly enjoys beating on women, and doesn't grasp how that is wrong. Sociopath seems too weak a description.
 

Cesar Crespo

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It's plausible the Reds were unaware. The initial encounter/assault happened while he was with the Indians and the application for the TRO and then its dismissal all happened during the shutdown. It doesn't seem like it ever made news of any kind at the time (not even a blurb in the court reports), so it's likely the only chance the Reds would have had to find out was if Bauer told them. I have my doubts that he would have said anything until or unless the case jeopardized his ability to play (like, a mandatory court appearance or the TRO preventing him from being in Cleveland with the team).

Bauer's toast, and rightly so. This new revelation just shows that he has a pattern of this behavior, which tosses any defense of the California incident as a misunderstanding or "kink gone wrong" out the window. He clearly enjoys beating on women, and doesn't grasp how that is wrong. Sociopath seems too weak a description.
Sociopath isn't the word anyway. He's a sexual deviant.
 

Marciano490

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It's plausible the Reds were unaware. The initial encounter/assault happened while he was with the Indians and the application for the TRO and then its dismissal all happened during the shutdown. It doesn't seem like it ever made news of any kind at the time (not even a blurb in the court reports), so it's likely the only chance the Reds would have had to find out was if Bauer told them. I have my doubts that he would have said anything until or unless the case jeopardized his ability to play (like, a mandatory court appearance or the TRO preventing him from being in Cleveland with the team).

Bauer's toast, and rightly so. This new revelation just shows that he has a pattern of this behavior, which tosses any defense of the California incident as a misunderstanding or "kink gone wrong" out the window. He clearly enjoys beating on women, and doesn't grasp how that is wrong. Sociopath seems too weak a description.
I always figured these billion dollar teams had some pretty intense vetting ops for high profile players. They don’t run background checks before cutting checks?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I always figured these billion dollar teams had some pretty intense vetting ops for high profile players. They don’t run background checks before cutting checks?
I don't know a ton about background checks, but would sealed court records of an attempted and abandoned TRO show up?
 

Max Power

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I always figured these billion dollar teams had some pretty intense vetting ops for high profile players. They don’t run background checks before cutting checks?
They've probably found it's better not to know any of this stuff. They can rightly claim ignorance and only deal with the fallout when stuff becomes public.

Many athletes are terrible human beings, which makes sense when they've been raised to believe they're the greatest thing in the world and never have to follow any rules. Doing thorough background investigations on everyone will leave teams fishing in a shallow talent pool.
 

Murderer's Crow

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I just can't fathom how someone this wealthy and famous would put himself in these potentially dangerous situations that have no positive long term outcome. All for a freakish brief interaction with strangers that he has no other relationship with. Hard to get behind him on this. He's going to get his due process but he is pretty much done with MLB. Worth it?
You can't fathom? This has been going on forever except for the last 100 years it was celebrated and there was significantly more willingness by journalists and police and the courts to brush it under the rug. Shit, even today I bet anything that athletes get away with an exponentially greater number of abuses that we never hear about than the ones we do. Every time I hear stories about how players used to bang girls in the locker rooms or under the bleachers, I cringe because it's next to impossible to even consider how much power these players actually have over young women or men.

Age & circumstance do matter too. If Bauer was engaging in violent sex at some sadistic pain kink club and hurt somebody, we'd probably all think it was pretty shitty of him but likely let the circumstances be considered when passing judgment. When there's a 19 year old, the chance that they had the ability to say no to anything a superstar asked for is nil. Just imagine how powerless a young person without any money is in a situation like this.

I always figured these billion dollar teams had some pretty intense vetting ops for high profile players. They don’t run background checks before cutting checks?
I was thinking about that today for a completely different reason. Juicing and sticky stuff in baseball, wouldn't teams try to find out before they sign players what they've been up to, their training regimens, old coaches....etc. It feels like any team's ability to check on players backgrounds is pretty shitty.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I don't know a ton about background checks, but would sealed court records of an attempted and abandoned TRO show up?
This is all a game of hot potato. Teams know that most of these guys are scum bags they just hope that no one finds out until they’re off their roster.

“Whaaaaaattt? I’m shocked that this happend!”

Sure you are.
 

YTF

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This is all a game of hot potato. Teams know that most of these guys are scum bags they just hope that no one finds out until they’re off their roster.

“Whaaaaaattt? I’m shocked that this happend!”

Sure you are.
I was thinking similarly when looking through this thread yesterday. My scenario was musical chairs and Bauer's sitting in your chair when the shit hits the fan.
 

mauf

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I always figured these billion dollar teams had some pretty intense vetting ops for high profile players. They don’t run background checks before cutting checks?
You’d have to do something like an FBI background check where you go and talk to lots of people in person’s life; a standard check of criminal records and credit histories wouldn’t turn up the sort of stuff we’re talking about. I imagine that doing that kind of background check when other teams don’t would put you at a considerable disadvantage in competing for talent.

I don’t believe for a second that the Dodgers knew about this prior incident and gave Bauer $100M anyway, nor do I believe they cut corners on the usual due diligence for a guy like Bauer who had a reputation for being disliked wherever he went.
 

Jack Rabbit Slim

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Not to derail the thread, but wasn't there a story about Carl Crawford being kind of freaked out by how thoroughly the Red Sox investigated him prior to signing?
 

mauf

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Not to derail the thread, but wasn't there a story about Carl Crawford being kind of freaked out by how thoroughly the Red Sox investigated him prior to signing?
Not a derail at all. It sounds like Theo just misspoke, but the controversy that ensued illustrates how sensitive players are to being investigated. It’s no wonder that teams get blindsided by players like Trevor Bauer.
 

ThePrideofShiner

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Closing arguments are underway at Bauer's hearing. Lengthy Twitter timeline from a lawyer who is watching the proceedings.

View: https://twitter.com/Ring_Sheryl/status/1428405410202103825


There's pretty much zero chance he avoids a lengthy suspension at this point unless the league plans to light what little credibility it has left on fire. And unless MLB completely botches its investigation, he will lose an appeal based on this hearing alone.
 

E5 Yaz

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The "verbally objected to" part is odd. If she was gagged or unconscious when he went beyond their agreed boundaries, does that count?
 

azsoxpatsfan

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just read through the entire thread posted above. She says the denial looks bad, but it was always a close call whether it would be granted because this hearing was exclusively about whether he poses a future threat to the victim, which isn’t clearly the case, as awful as he is. The RO being denied doesn’t make anything he did legal, doesn’t mean he didn’t assault the victim or commit a crime. In fact, his lawyers basically admitted that he did assault her and commit crimes because they admitted he choked her unconscious and beat her and one cannot consent to grievous bodily harm. So even though the denial looks bad, this hearing was actually terrible for Bauer’s future in mlb and wrt any criminal proceedings. IANAL, but that’s what I gathered reading through the thread
 

azsoxpatsfan

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The "verbally objected to" part is odd. If she was gagged or unconscious when he went beyond their agreed boundaries, does that count?
Absolutely counts wrt whether he committed a crime or assaulted her, the judge just doesn’t think it makes him a threat to the victim in the future
 

jmcc5400

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Is he really a threat to her, though?

He can still be found guilty.
She thinks so. It's a close call legally - so I might have overreacted with "unbelievable" - but I'd give the victim the benefit of the doubt in this situation.
 

Mantush

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IANAL - but do the misrepresentions in her filings (skull fracture, Bauer harassing with text messages and calls, joking about becoming rich / ending his career) play into this?

I’ve been the victim of dating violence in Florida (obviously not California) and I remember the SA thoroughly hammering it home that any dishonesty on my part gives them grounds to appeal the protection order. Not sure if that’s what happened here.
 

jmcc5400

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It definitely was a factor. The Court made a point of calling out the victim on her claims that Bauer had called and texted her incessantly over a two week period when the record reflected that it was a couple of texts a day. (which to my mind is plenty when there isn;t a response, but whatever). It did go to the credibility of her claim that she feared reprisal from him.
 

Rovin Romine

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I don't practice in CA, but another thing to keep in mind is that until a resolution of any underlying criminal matter, she's still a witness and a victim. Bauer is still open to potential charges of tampering if there's any kind of reprisal from him or his agents.

If charges are filed, there will be terms of release. One of those terms (in jurisdictions I am familiar with) is often a no-contact order with the victim.

In terms of Bauers ultimate liability, criminal, civil and via MLB, this means pretty much zero.
 

Mantush

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It definitely was a factor. The Court made a point of calling out the victim on her claims that Bauer had called and texted her incessantly over a two week period when the record reflected that it was a couple of texts a day. (which to my mind is plenty when there isn;t a response, but whatever). It did go to the credibility of her claim that she feared reprisal from him.
Yeah. That's why I was asking because this hearing was specifically wrt a restraining order. The impression I got from Bauer's defense was that she misrepresented her injuries in her filings and did the same about the number of texts and calls she received. I had also had the impression that, prior to her filing for this, Bauer was contacting her non-stop, but then it was admitted he hadn't had any contact with her in a month (I think I read that right from The Sun's coverage). I don't see the need for a restraining order when someone has legitimately not made any effort to contact someone in a month. That said, I hope Bauer - if it's proven he's guilty in a criminal case - goes to prison. He should also be blackballed / suspended by the league, but I wonder if that will actually happen. He's too talented for teams to resist signing as the negative press will be bad at first but die down eventually.
 

Gash Prex

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I understand there can still be criminal charges but given the courts factual finding of this:

The judge said the "injuries as shown in the photographs are terrible" but added, "If she set limits and he exceeded them, this case would've been clear. But she set limits without considering all the consequences, and respondent did not exceed limits that the petitioner set."
bringing criminal charges is going to be difficult
 

Murderer's Crow

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bringing criminal charges is going to be difficult
I've said for awhile now too that saying she was in and out of unconsciousness is going to be very tough to prove. Further, even if she can prove it, she won't be able to prove that he knew she was unconscious or that anything happened during that time. It's a horrible situation for a victim and I'm going to be honest, my non-lawyer impression here is that Bauer has a pretty easy case to prove given her text messages. They set up a safe word, he never heard the safe word nor she did say she said it. We've all seen the texts where after the first encounter, she said she wanted even more and how much she enjoyed it, especially "going out." All of that puts a greater burden on the prosecution to prove Bauer was doing anything other than a consensual act. Maybe I'm wrong here but I think he walks away unscathed from this in the courts. His baseball career is probably over, though, which is the really interesting thing here considering we have players now who physically beat wives/girlfriends or threatened to kill them where there was absolutely no ambiguity or argument. I mean, Domingo German beat his wife in front of the other baseball players and he's still playing. Trevor Bauer beat a young woman and as thin as his argument might be, it's better than any of the other shitheads.

Unless some team, like a Steve Cohen Mets, decides that "everyone deserves a second chance," it'll be tough for Bauer to play again. I don't look forward to the videos of Bauer donating to food banks and doing good deeds for a year.
 

Rovin Romine

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I've said for awhile now too that saying she was in and out of unconsciousness is going to be very tough to prove. Further, even if she can prove it, she won't be able to prove that he knew she was unconscious or that anything happened during that time. It's a horrible situation for a victim and I'm going to be honest, my non-lawyer impression here is that Bauer has a pretty easy case to prove given her text messages. They set up a safe word, he never heard the safe word nor she did say she said it. We've all seen the texts where after the first encounter, she said she wanted even more and how much she enjoyed it, especially "going out." All of that puts a greater burden on the prosecution to prove Bauer was doing anything other than a consensual act. Maybe I'm wrong here but I think he walks away unscathed from this in the courts. His baseball career is probably over, though, which is the really interesting thing here considering we have players now who physically beat wives/girlfriends or threatened to kill them where there was absolutely no ambiguity or argument. I mean, Domingo German beat his wife in front of the other baseball players and he's still playing. Trevor Bauer beat a young woman and as thin as his argument might be, it's better than any of the other shitheads.

Unless some team, like a Steve Cohen Mets, decides that "everyone deserves a second chance," it'll be tough for Bauer to play again. I don't look forward to the videos of Bauer donating to food banks and doing good deeds for a year.
I'm not as familiar with the details as some here seem to be, nor do I know CA law. But the state always has to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The above sounds like a reasonable doubt. Specifically, the doubt is: I have a doubt because he might have had permission.

That said, there are ways a prosecutor can frame this. Most of them hinge on the idea that an unconscious person cannot consent (or "unconsent") to anything. So if you do a new thing to an unconscious person, the reasonable doubt "that he had permission" is much much weaker. Especially if the things hadn't been done before, produced gross trauma, and the victim was unresponsive. CA law may have a specific jury instruction that applies.

Devil's in the details, but, based on the reporting, this isn't quite "he said/she said."
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I've said for awhile now too that saying she was in and out of unconsciousness is going to be very tough to prove. Further, even if she can prove it, she won't be able to prove that he knew she was unconscious or that anything happened during that time. It's a horrible situation for a victim and I'm going to be honest, my non-lawyer impression here is that Bauer has a pretty easy case to prove given her text messages. They set up a safe word, he never heard the safe word nor she did say she said it. We've all seen the texts where after the first encounter, she said she wanted even more and how much she enjoyed it, especially "going out." All of that puts a greater burden on the prosecution to prove Bauer was doing anything other than a consensual act. Maybe I'm wrong here but I think he walks away unscathed from this in the courts. His baseball career is probably over, though, which is the really interesting thing here considering we have players now who physically beat wives/girlfriends or threatened to kill them where there was absolutely no ambiguity or argument. I mean, Domingo German beat his wife in front of the other baseball players and he's still playing. Trevor Bauer beat a young woman and as thin as his argument might be, it's better than any of the other shitheads.

Unless some team, like a Steve Cohen Mets, decides that "everyone deserves a second chance," it'll be tough for Bauer to play again. I don't look forward to the videos of Bauer donating to food banks and doing good deeds for a year.
Without knowing more about Bauer's prior history with other women, I'd guess that he plays again. I don't think the criminal case is going to go anywhere substantive - I still thinks Bauer pleads to something but nothing egregious - and there is a civil settlement. Bauer then serves some suspension as a first time offender and then gets to go back to his career.

Unless, again, there are more women to come forward.

I'm also shocked that Bauer's attorney let the restraining order to go to a hearing. I get that the attorney likely wanted the chance to get the accuser's testimony on the record - to make the case "stand still," and from what I am reading, there's nothing she said that wasn't already public - but I would have extended the ex parte order (saying, "Because my client has no intent to contact her, he's willing to keep extending the order in the interests of both parties," work out a settlement with the victim, tried to get a plea deal from the DA, and then try to get back to pitching. All if it under the radar.

Maybe the victim was refusing to settle or there's more in Bauer's history that is being investigated, or something else, but even though Bauer "won" the legal argument with respect to the permanent RO, I don't see how this helps him in the grand scheme of things.

Of course, Bauer may just have wanted to go to the mat on this one. You never know.
 

SDSox5

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Listening to local San Diego radio this morning and heard 2 different stations just openly ripping this woman to shreds, saying she gave Bauer blanket permission to do whatever and has no right to be upset. Basically just openly mocking her and laughing that she had relationships with several other Padres players while she was member of the Pad Squad (the crew of young women that shoot t-shirts into the crowd) and was clearly just a "cleat-chaser". It was really disgusting.
 

curly2

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That is unbelievable. No wonder victims of abuse don't come forward.
Is he really a threat to her, though?

He can still be found guilty.
I don't think he's a threat to her. He's very famous and recognizable and is now under heavy scrutiny, and it has to have even gotten through that thick head of his that if he goes near her again, he'll probably lose any chance he has of ever putting on a uniform again.

But to jmcc's larger point about victims of abuse, when this happens to someone not famous, the abuser/stalker is a threat again the second he leaves the courthouse.
 

Cesar Crespo

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But to jmcc's larger point about victims of abuse, when this happens to someone not famous, the abuser/stalker is a threat again the second he leaves the courthouse.
Sadly this is true regardless of whether there's a RO or PFA.
 

jose melendez

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em to be, nor do I know CA law. But the state always has to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The above sounds like a reasonable doubt. Specifically, the doubt is: I have a doubt because he might have had permiss
Listening to local San Diego radio this morning and heard 2 different stations just openly ripping this woman to shreds, saying she gave Bauer blanket permission to do whatever and has no right to be upset. Basically just openly mocking her and laughing that she had relationships with several other Padres players while she was member of the Pad Squad (the crew of young women that shoot t-shirts into the crowd) and was clearly just a "cleat-chaser". It was really disgusting.
The hosts or callers? Gross either way.
 

SDSox5

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Hosts...multiple. Both male and female. Granted, these were shitty morning radio types, but I was surprised at the level of mockery for the whole situation. I didn't listen long enough to hear the callers.
 

jose melendez

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I guess I can find the sense in no restraining order, but the idea that this warranted unlimited consent seems weird to me. So a peep can get a woman to agree to s and m, set up a safe word, and then he can knock her out and do anything and there was consent? Seems like a real proble
.