MLB Fans Have Mixed Feelings About Cy Young Award Winner Signing With Japanese Team

After being banned from playing in Major League Baseball for 539 days, pitcher Trevor Bauer had his suspension lifted in December of 2022.

An independent arbitrator reduced Bauer’s 324 game suspension to 194 games and after being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers in early January he figured to sign with another MLB team.

That didn’t happen.

Bauer was going to be docked pay through the first 50 games of the 2023 season, but the rest of the $22.5 million the Dodgers owed him would be paid by Los Angeles even if he signed with another team for the $720,000 league minimum.

Financially, the risk for a Major League Baseball team to sign him was very low. After all, Trevor Bauer won the 2020 National League Cy Young Award with a 1.73 ERA and boasted a 2.59 ERA with the Dodgers in 2021 when he was placed on administrative leave.

Instead, on Monday it was reported that Bauer will be playing for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization in 2023.

According to a report by YamadaSANSPO, the deal will be worth 400 million yen (approximately $3 million).

Bauer, who has not officially made a statement regarding the signing, has changed his Twitter profile to include a Japanese translation of his name (トレバー・バウアー).

DeNA carefully proceeded with the acquisition investigation, and the suspicion of assault was not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence, and criminal responsibility was not held. Since the Dodgers will bear this season’s annual salary, which is said to be about 3 billion yen, it is believed that they have reached an agreement on a contract worth 400 million yen, including the turnover.

Manipulates a variety of pitches such as fastballs over 150 km, knuckle curves, and cut balls. He is known as an intelligent person who calculates data precisely and utilizes it in pitching, and is a Japanophile who exchanges pitching discussions with Darvish. In December 2019, he visited DeNA’s farm facility “DOCK” in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa and deepened exchanges with Imanaga and others.

Not all baseball fans, especially those who root for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars were thrilled with the team signing Trevor Bauer.

“Welcome to Japan, Bauer,” another fan tweeted in Japanese. “You can use spider tacks as much as you want.”

“Going to absolutely dominate that league. Probably set a bunch of single season records,” someone else tweeted.

“It’s sad what the @MLB and media did to him,” another fan tweeted. “Clearly innocent yet they all blackballed him for no reason.”

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