Will the Dodgers have Trevor Bauer back in their rotation next season?

Right from the start, the ongoing saga of what to do about Trevor Bauer has been a difficult one to parse. Fans, onlookers, and the general public are pretty much evenly divided on what the Dodgers should do about him.

A divisive figure even before he was signed to a three-year, $102 million deal, Bauer had few supporters in LA even before it all hit the proverbial fan. Once his suspension came about, even that small amount dried up.

The problem with Trevor Bauer

The root of the problem with Trevor Bauer is that he represents the two extremes of American society wrapped into one, admittedly talented if distasteful, package.

On the one hand you have the “innocent until proven guilty” argument, a concept that underpins all of the rights and privileges that exist in American society.

And on the other hand, you have the “cancel culture” argument, which is a perhaps cack-handed way of saying that the public can simply vote with their wallets, another concept which is as American as apple pie. Or indeed baseball itself.

The Los Angeles district attorney pointed out that in choosing not to pursue a case against Bauer, they were not saying that he was innocent, only that they felt that they had no realistic chance of securing a conviction.

In response, Bauer released video evidence showing his accuser willingly sharing a bed with the pitcher, uninjured the morning after she claimed the assault took place.

When the public are reading about sadistic sex in Fifty Shades of Grey, it all seems so clear. Consensual sex, even if it involves spanking or sodomy, is a freedom, indeed a right, that is afforded to everyone. But when read out in the cold detail of a police report, it suddenly feels less appealing.

The trouble at the heart of the Bauer story is one of marketing. On the face of the available evidence, it looks as if no crime took place. Bauer maintains that all acts were consensual, and has produced evidence, both photographic and records of text messages, to support this assertion. Most tellingly is that the police seem to agree with him, calling his accuser’s report “materially untruthful”.

But when the events involve sado-masochism, however consensual, the American public tends to reel. Particularly when the accused is someone with a reputation for being as generally unlikeable as Trevor Bauer.

What will the Dodgers do about Trevor Bauer?

With MLB’s reinstatement of Bauer, a new problem is looming, casting its long shadow over the issue. While the legal questions surrounding the events may be at an end, there is a larger problem now facing the Dodgers.

While many Dodger fans are loath to see Bauer return, just as many support bringing him back, with a recent informal poll by the Los Angeles Times showing a 51% - 49% split in favor of having him back in the Dodger Blue.

And while it is not publicly known how individual players may feel on the situation, there are reports coming out of the Dodger organization that at least some of the roster would like to see Bauer back in the dugout.

And then there is the question of the money.

Los Angeles is still on the hook for $22.5 million that is owed to Bauer for the remainder of his contract. While they may be willing to eat that loss and not play him, it is unlikely that another team will be willing to take that kind of debt on for a player with such complicated baggage.

It is notable that there are a few teams who may be willing to take the punt on him, specifically Texas and the Mets, who have both identified pitching as an area that they will focus on in negotiations. But even so, finding a trading partner for Bauer is still a stretch.

It seems as if the Dodgers will try to play Bauer in some minimal role, simply to get some value out of their investment, hoping that any success that he has will allow them to put it behind them. Any possible return will almost certainly be a contingent on a profuse apology from Bauer for is “poor decisions” as a non-negotiable condition.

The Dodgers are on the clock, now. Their decision about what to do with Trevor will need to be made before Friday, as per league rules. Unless they can find some way to kick this can down the road a little further.