According to reports, Trevor Bauer has agreed to a $4 million, one-year contract with the Nippon Professional Baseball team of Japan’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
According to Rachel Luba, Trevor Bauer’s agent, the former Cy Young Award winner is pitching in Japan to realize a long-held desire.
“We’ve been waiting to reveal this for a while now… I can’t wait to see you back on the mound, @BauerOutage, and I can’t wait for you to finally get the chance to fulfill your lifelong dream of becoming the first player to ever win a Cy Young and Sawamura awards! In a post on social media, Luba.
Perhaps the more important information is lost in the contract details. The BayStars will only pay Bauer $4 million, but because Bauer is pitching in Japan, the Los Angeles Dodgers are still on the hook for $22 million this coming season.
“A then-27-year-old San Diego woman filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order in which she alleged that Bauer assaulted her over the course of two sexual encounters at his home in Pasadena, California, in April and May, prompting a prolonged MLB investigation that left Bauer on administrative leave for the remainder of that season.”
The most important detail of Bauer’s contract was revealed by Luba, and it’s fairly refreshing they’re being so up front about it. Bauer can go pitch in Japan for a year and still make the money back that the Dodgers owe him.
After that, he’s on his own. And his MLB future is uncertain at best.
