Trevor Bauer blames MLB for failing to sign with a new club since his 194-game ban over sexual assault claims

Trevor Bauer says Major League Baseball pressured teams not to sign him after his 194-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence, sexual abuse and child abuse policy.

“Well, one team told us it’s not their decision, it’s MLB’s decision,” Bauer wrote Monday on X in a conversation with Cincinnati Reds fans.

MLB disagrees with Bauer.

When reached for comment by DailyMail.com, a league spokesperson shared a previously published statement about the pitcher: “Trevor Bauer has served his entire career and is an unrestricted free agent who is available to sign a contract with any team.”

Bauer has pitched well in Mexico this season after a successful 2023 campaign in Japan. Yet he has failed to attract major league teams after allegations of sexual assault by four women, one of whom is facing fraud and racketeering charges in Arizona stemming from her allegations.

Bauer, 31, has never been charged with any crime in the cases and has maintained his innocence in all cases. However, the league investigated Bauer over a number of claims in 2022, and a neutral third-party arbitrator upheld the ruling even though he has never been charged.

MLB’s Joint Policy on Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence was developed in collaboration with the players’ union (MLBPA) and allows the league to discipline individuals without a finding of guilt.

“A player may be subject to disciplinary action by the commissioner for a violation of this policy for reasonable cause, unless there is a conviction or a guilty plea for an offense related to a covered conduct,” an excerpt from the policy reads.

Several X users in Monday’s thread were eager to see Bauer return to Cincinnati, where he won the 2020 National League Cy Young Award. But without offering specifics, Bauer suggested his issue has nothing to do with his pitching skills.

“There’s absolutely no belief that my stuff won’t make it in the league,” Bauer said. “Every team we talk to says I’d be their 1 or 2 in their rotation.”

He has been performing excellently this season in the Mexican League, which is classified as Triple-A and is therefore comparable to the highest position on the minor league ladder.

In 14 starts for the Diablos Rojos del México, Bauer has a 10-0 record with a 2.48 earned run average while striking out an impressive 13 batters per nine innings.

According to Bauer, the problem is the MLB.

When a fan asked, “Since when does MLB have a say in who a team signs,” Bauer doubled down on his opinion.

“That’s a good question about MLB,” Bauer replied.[It] shouldn’t be their decision, but apparently in certain cases it is… And all your coaches and players agree with that, but… they’ve been told…’

Bauer’s interactions with fans devolved into personal attacks on unnamed former teammates in Cincinnati. In one instance, Bauer suggested that a veteran star had lost his motivation after struggling to win in Cincinnati for a decade.

“Apparently losing ten years in a row sucks the competition out of you,” Bauer wrote.

Bauer has struggled to distance himself from sexual assault allegations and has been unable to sign with an MLB team since being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers in January 2023 after serving his suspension.

While Bauer and plaintiff Lindsey Hill admit to having consensual sex in 2021, Hill alleges the pitcher crossed the line by hitting her, choking her unconscious and sodomizing her without her consent.

Bauer was never charged in the case, and in October 2023, the two settled their respective defamation lawsuits against each other. In both cases, no money exchanged hands.

Bauer has since released a video detailing his version of events at X. The video shows Hill texting a friend, calling the pitcher her “next victim.”

Bauer continues to maintain his innocence, but he has admitted to making “mistakes” in his private life and continues to maintain that he no longer has “casual sexual relationships.”

Although Bauer is a controversial figure among baseball fans, his qualities as a player on the mound are not in question.

After a brilliant college career at UCLA, the California native played seven solid seasons with the Cleveland Indians before winning the NL Cy Young Award with a league-best 1.73 earned run average.

The Dodgers subsequently gave Bauer a three-year, $102 million contract through the 2021 season, but he was suspended amid the sexual abuse allegations.

In December 2022, an arbitrator reduced Bauer’s suspension to 194 games and he was reinstated, but he was ultimately fired by the Dodgers.

He then signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball League. In 19 appearances for the BayStars, Bauer had a 10-4 record with an impressive 2.76 ERA.

Since then, an Arizona woman has been indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury on fraud and racketeering charges involving Bauer and another man, though the exact charges remain unclear.

That woman, Darcy Adanna Esemonu, was indicted in March on charges that she “knowingly obtained a benefit from Marco Bresciant and Trevor Anthony Bauer, through fraudulent pretenses, representations, promises or material omissions,” according to the indictment provided to DailyMail.com.

Esemonu faces up to 16 years in prison if found guilty on all charges.

DailyMail.com reached out to another attorney representing Esemonu in her ongoing sexual abuse lawsuit against Bauer in Arizona, but did not receive a response.

Bauer responded to news of Esemonu’s lawsuit on YouTube by claiming that she was demanding $3.6 million from him because he allegedly pressured her into having an abortion. He denies this claim.

In 2021, The Washington Post found documents showing that an Ohio woman had filed for a temporary protective order against Bauer in June 2020, and that another woman had accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2022 and 2023. He has denied the allegations.

Bauer filed defamation lawsuits against several media outlets over their reporting on the allegations, but he dropped his case against The Athletic and a lawsuit against Deadspin was dismissed in March 2023.