ZenBlog

After being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Trevor Bauer is going to play professional baseball in Japan.

Bauer signed a contract with the Yokohama BayStars for the 2023 season, with Jon Heyman of the New York Post reporting the 32-year-old can make up to $4 million.

Japanese news outlet Sanspo.com (h/t Dylan Hernández of the Los Angeles Times) previously reported the deal.

The BayStars play in Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan's top league. They have made the postseason four times since 2016, including last season when they lost in the first stage of the Central League Climax Series to the Hanshin Tigers.

The Dodgers announced Jan. 6 that Bauer would "no longer be part of our organization" and designated him for assignment.

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Bauer hasn't pitched in a game since June 28, 2021, after he was accused of sexual assault by a woman who filed for a temporary domestic violence restraining order against him.

Per a June 2021 report by The Athletic's Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang, the woman said she agreed to consensual sex with Bauer but "did not agree to be sexually assaulted."

She wrote in her filing that Bauer punched her in the face and vagina and strangled her until she lost consciousness during two sexual encounters. She also said he had penetrated her anally while unconscious without her prior consent.

In a statement to Ghiroli and Strang, Bauer's agent, Jon Fetterolf, said the allegations were "baseless, defamatory, and will be refuted to the fullest extent of the law."

A Los Angeles judge rescinded the restraining order against Bauer in August 2021. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced in February 2022 that the right-handed pitcher wouldn't face criminal charges.

In a separate report from April, Garcia-Roberts noted a different woman in Columbus, Ohio, said Bauer "choked her unconscious without her consent" and "slapped her without her consent" in sexual encounters between the two.

Major League Baseball initially placed Bauer on administrative leave as it investigated the allegations. He was suspended for 324 games (two full seasons) in April 2022 for violating MLB's joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.

The suspension did not include the 99 games Bauer missed while on administrative leave. An arbitrator reduced his suspension to 194 games on appeal, retroactive to when it was first handed down.

The arbitrator also ruled Bauer would be fined for the first 50 games of the 2023 season. The Dodgers still owe him the $22.5 million remaining on the three-year, $102.1 million contract he signed in February 2021.

Signing in Japan will allow Bauer to pitch as soon as he's ready. The BayStars will open the 2023 regular season March 31 against Hanshin.

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