early a year after he first was put on leave from the LA Dodgers, Trevor Bauer was officially suspended by Major League Baseball. It’s a hefty suspension – 2 years, and it does not include the 99 games he missed last season on paid leave. This suspension is twice as long as the next longest suspension that Rob Manfred has handed out under the domestic violence and sexual assault policy. From the story, to the leave, to the suspension, and even Bauer’s battles with MLB on other topics all come into play.
Let’s step out from the allegations and the suspension and go back to the start of the season last year. Last spring there was a huge battle within baseball about the amount of sticky and foreign substance pitchers are allowed to use on a baseball. Bauer was a major player on the pitching side of this debate. He even showed in a video how hard it would be to police a legal substance compared to an illegal substance. In the end, his view on the issue didn’t win – pitchers were basically strip searched on the field by umpires looking for places they could hide stickem to increase spin rate. It’s a policy that still exists today with the post inning hand check by umpires. So let’s just say before these domestic violence allegations, he wasn’t on the good side of Manfred.
I’m not going to get into the details of the allegations – the case was dismissed in court citing a lack of evidence. Bauer is currently suing Deadspin and The Athletic for defamation stemming from the story. The truth in the story we’ll never fully know. There are some gruesome details, however I have no legal background and the case was dismissed.
Here’s where the problem starts for Major League Baseball though. They just handed down the most severe penalty for a rule that doesn’t have any clear set punishments for violations. Basically the Commissioner gets to serve as Judge, Jury, and Executioner on these issues. Bauer wasn’t convicted of any crime. He also sat out half a year. Finally, they waited nearly 3 months after the case was dismissed to hand out a punishment for Bauer. Each of those things is wrong – and the Players Association needs to make MLB fix them.
When should the punishment for a player begin? It’s a tough question – especially for a company (league) that relies heavily on public opinion. We live in an era where stories come and go fast. Honestly, I forgot about this story until the suspension was handed out today. If MLB let Bauer play last year and he was convicted it’s a PR black mark for the league. However, going through the legal system takes time – and often the league doesn’t want to put up with the backlash that happens in that time. If the league decides to take that route, then suspensions must be handed out fast and furiously. Also, if players are proven to be innocent, then they must be able to receive pay for the time served after the fact. Neither are an ideal solution.
The smarter move for Major League Baseball to take is to sit out of the court of public opinion. They should only hand out suspensions for things that happen within the game. Things like PEDs, in games fights, stealing signs, etc. all would fall under the purview of MLB. For legal incidents that happen off the field they should wait until the legal system plays itself out – only hading out a suspension in the case of a conviction.
Trevor Bauer is falling into a situation where MLB is trying to do both – suspend on the news and then again once the legal portion has been resolved. The problem is, they’re suspending as if he was convicted. Bauer sat out 99 games last year – that’s roughly 17-20 starts that he missed. It was a good faith move by him and the Dodgers to save MLB the PR backlash from the story. Yet, none of those 99 games are going to count towards his suspension. Sure he was paid, but he missed out on the opportunity to put up numbers and solidify his legacy in the game – you know the other reason players play the game.
I have a feeling the length of his suspension results partially from him speaking out about the stickem issue early last season. It seems like Manfred wanted to suspend him for his dissent on that issue, but he couldn’t. He likely wanted to suspend him last year after the news fell out, but the 99 games with pay wasn’t enough – to me the suspension seems personal. This is why there needs to be a clear committee on these suspensions – that is if MLB continues to punish for off field issues.
Here’s the big problem though, since MLB handed out a 2 year suspension for a case that didn’t have enough evidence to bring to court, there’s now precedent. If another player is convicted of a similar charge the league will now have to hand out an even longer suspension. Basically this suspension turns the Major League Baseball disciplinary process into one big kangaroo court.
If Major League Baseball wants to help mend the strained relationship with the players after the first work stoppage in 27 years they would work to be more transparent in their punishment for these kind of issues. They need to have a clear-cut outline for when a suspension can start, how long it can be for specific actions, and give you credit for time served (even if the time was paid). Trevor Bauer wasn’t in the good graces of MLB even before last season, but that’s no reason to make an example of him – when he wasn’t convicted. The MLBPA needs to come to his defense and then force Rob Manfred and the rest of MLB to be more clear in their punishments.