Former NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer is finalizing a one-year deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball league, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Having recently turned 32 and only three years removed from winning a Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds, Bauer would still conceivably have a few good years of pitching left. It was reported in Jan. 2022 that multiple MLB teams with a potential starting pitching need wouldn’t be pursuing the controversial righty though.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were unable to find a trade partner for the one-time All-Star this winter, which led to his release two months ago. The Dodgers owe Bauer his remaining salary of $22.5 million in 2023 but would’ve saved the major league minimum of $720,000 if another team had signed him.
The 2011 third-overall draft pick hasn’t pitched since June 2021, when he first faced sexual assault allegations.
In April 2022, MLB handed down an unprecedented 324-game suspension for violation of the league’s domestic violence policy. Per ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, Bauer appealed the decision, and what followed was a “seven-month grievance process that ended with an independent arbitrator ruling Dec. 22 that Bauer’s suspension would be trimmed to 194 games and he would be reinstated immediately.”
After debuting with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012 and pitching for Cleveland from 2013-19, he was traded to the Reds in July of that year and signed with the Dodgers in Feb. 2021 on a three-year, $102 million contract.
