Dodgers’ $102 million bust signs with surprising New York team

Trevor Bauer is back.

The Long Island Ducks have signed the former National League Cy Young Award winner, whose $102 million, three-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers was interrupted when Bauer was assessed the largest penalty ever given under MLB’s domestic violence policy.

Bauer, 35, will start for the independent minor league team on April 21, the first game of the new season in the independent Atlantic League.

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Bauer pitched only 17 games for the Dodgers in 2021 before he was suspended following a domestic violence allegation. He ended up missing 182 games in total between 2021 and 2022.

In December 2022, MLB reduced Bauer’s suspension from 324 to 194 games after he appealed his original penalty.

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Since then, Bauer has pitched professionally in Japan and Mexico. In March 2024, he even pitched against the Dodgers with the independent Asian Breeze.

Last year, Bauer went 4-10 with a 4.41 ERA across 138.2 innings for the Yokohama BayStars in NPB, the top league in Japan.

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From 2012-21, Bauer went 83-69 with a 3.79 ERA in 222 games (212 starts) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Cincinnati Reds and Dodgers.

Bauer won the 2020 NL Cy Young Award with the Reds. He went 5-4 with a 1.73 ERA, recording shutouts in two of his 11 starts during the pandemic-shortened season.

More to come on this story.