With the lockout lifted, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have agreed to extend Trevor Bauer's administrative leave for another seven days (March 13 to 19), preventing the right-hander from reporting to the Los Angeles Dodgers' spring training facility.
Bauer spent the last four months of the 2021 regular season on administrative leave while contesting sexual assault allegations that he and his lawyers have denied. A judge ruled in August to dissolve a temporary restraining order that was sought against him by a woman who alleged he took consensual rough sex too far over the course of two encounters last April and May.
The L.A. District Attorney's Office then decided not to file charges against Bauer in early February. But MLB has yet to rule on a potential suspension and has yet to interview Bauer because of the lockout, which lasted 99 days and wasn't lifted until the players and the owners agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday.
Bauer's attorneys have served a subpoena asking the Pasadena (California) Police Department to provide missing cell phone records from the woman that his lawyers say "will further reveal [the woman's] plan to ruin [Bauer's] reputation and career and to earn a large paycheck by making false and misleading allegations in her Petition." The woman's attorneys have asked that the subpoena be thrown out. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 4 in L.A. Superior Court.
Bauer made his full $38 million salary in 2021 despite spending half the season on administrative leave and can make up to $47 million in 2022.
Prior to the revelation that Bauer had been placed back on administrative leave, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked whether the pitcher would be in camp and didn't rule out the possibility.
"I don't want to completely close the door on him potentially being in spring training because I just don't know enough," Roberts said.