2020 Cy Young Winner Trevor Bauer Responds To Suspension Being Lifted, Fans React

It has been 539 days since Trevor Bauer has been allowed to pitch in the Major Leagues. That all changed Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday, an independent arbitrator reduced Bauer’s 324 game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy to 194 games.

In addition to that, despite the fact that Trevor Bauer has served just 144 games of the suspension, he is being given credit for the more than nine months that Major League Baseball had him on administrative leave before suspending him.

According to ESPN reporter Alden González, “Bauer will be docked pay through the first 50 games of the 2023 season but will be officially reinstated Friday. The Dodgers then will have 14 days, until Jan. 6, to determine whether to release him or add him to their 40-man roster.”

The Dodgers weren’t expecting a decision until sometime in January and were caught off guard by the ruling, learning the results about a half-hour before MLB released a statement, a source close to the situation told ESPN. The Dodgers countered with only a short statement that read: “We have just been informed of the arbitrator’s ruling and will comment as soon as practical.”

Bauer’s legal team — consisting of Jon Fetterolf, Shawn Holley and Rachel Luba — also put out a statement, writing: “While we are pleased that Mr. Bauer has been reinstated immediately, we disagree that any discipline should have been imposed. That said, Mr. Bauer looks forward to his return to the field, where his goal remains to help his team win a World Series.”

Trevor Bauer, who has a large presence on social media (one of the reasons teams were hesitant to sign him in 2020), responded to the news of pending reinstatement with, of course, a tweet.

The 2023 MLB season will be the third in Trevor Bauer’s three-year, $102 million deal with the Dodgers. His suspension will have cost him $37.5 million of that.

He is guaranteed to make $22.5 million in 2023, regardless of whether or not the Dodgers decide to keep him or end up trading him to another team.

“While we are pleased that Mr. Bauer has been reinstated immediately, we disagree that any discipline should have been imposed. That said, Mr. Bauer looks forward to his return to the field, where his goal remains to help his team win a World Series,” read a statement from Jon Fetterolf, Shawn Holley and Rachel Luba, Mr. Bauer’s representatives.

During his short tenure with Los Angeles, Trevor Bauer went 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP with 137 strikeouts in 107.2 innings pitched – those last two numbers were leading Major League Baseball at the time he was put on administrative leave.

Baseball fan reaction to the news, as has been the case all along when it comes to anything related to Trevor Bauer, was very mixed. That being said, a large swath of people on Twitter just want him to come pitch for their team.

“I hope the @Dodgers do the right thing and bring you back, sir,” another fan tweeted at Bauer. “Can’t wait to see you show the world what you’re truly made of after all of this.”

https://twitter.com/chrisfarley71/status/1606138583403765760

“Nobody is paying you to play bro. You’re not worth the negative publicity,” another fan commented.

https://twitter.com/ybisbetterifear/status/1606108692608192512

And so on, and so on…