MIAMI — Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer’s paid administrative leave has been extended another seven days, Major League Baseball announced Thursday.
Bauer was placed on leave for seven days last Friday after a woman accused him of sexual assault in Pasadena and obtained a temporary restraining order against him. Under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy, the league needed approval from the players union to extend Bauer’s leave.
Bauer, 30, hasn’t been charged or arrested. The Pasadena Police Department is investigating him for possible felony assault while MLB conducts its own investigation. A hearing to determine whether the temporary restraining order against Bauer will remain in force is scheduled for July 23.
The leave now extends through July 15. Barring an unlikely resolution before then, the league and the union are expected to discuss another extension, perhaps for longer than seven days, to let the investigations play out.
If the union declines, the league could have to choose between reinstating Bauer for the time being or disciplining him based on whatever evidence it has uncovered by then.
In a report filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 29, the woman accused Bauer of nonconsensual sex on two occasions three weeks apart — one in April and one in May — in Bauer’s Pasadena home.
In a statement, Bauer’s co-agents Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba said: “We continue to refute [the woman’s] allegations in the strongest possible terms and Mr. Bauer vehemently denies her account of the two meetings. Again, administrative leave is neither a disciplinary action nor does it in any way reflect a finding in the league’s investigation.”
The Dodgers quietly began distancing themselves from Bauer this week. The club removed his bobblehead night from its promotional schedule and pulled his merchandise from the team store.
Bauer signed a three-year, $102 million contract with the Dodgers in February after winning the 2020 National League Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds. The Newhall Hart (Santa Clarita, Calif.) High and UCLA product has a 2.59 earned-run average in 17 starts this season.
