MLB and union prolong Bauer's absence

NEW YORK (AP) — Pitcher Trevor Bauer, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will miss the start of the season as the Major League and the players union extended his administrative leave to April 16 on Thursday.

Bauer was placed on July 2 on a seven-day leave with pay, in accordance with the joint policy of the union and MLB against intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

The move was taken after a Southern California woman said the pitcher knocked her unconscious due to suffocation, repeatedly hit her with her fists and had anal sex with her without her consent during two sexual encounters earlier last year.

Since then, the Major Leagues and the union have agreed to several extensions to Bauer's license.

“Mr. Bauer is cooperating with the MLB investigation and awaits the resolution of this matter. He continues to prepare for the 2022 campaign,” said Bauer agents Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba in an emailed statement.

“An administrative leave is not a disciplinary action nor in any way reflects a conclusion in the investigation conducted by the league.”

Bauer hasn't seen any action since June 29. He had a record of 8-2 and an admitted fair run average of 2.59 in 17 appearances during his first season with the Dodgers. Last year he was paid his salary of $28 million.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles decided last month not to press charges against Bauer over who weighed the accusation of beating a San Diego woman and sexually abusing her after meeting her on social media.

Prosecutors failed to prove the woman's allegations beyond reasonable doubt, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office acknowledged in a document on the conclusion of the investigation.

After the prosecutors' decision, Bauer categorically denied in a seven-minute video broadcast on YouTube that he had abused the woman. She said that both of them had rough sex on her proposal and they stuck to what they had agreed beforehand.

At the end of each meeting, they both joked and she stayed the night with him.

The Associated Press often fails to identify people who claim to have been victims of sexual assault.

After winning his first Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds in 2020, Bauer signed a three-season contract for $102 million with the Dodgers, his hometown team.