Warning: The following article contains graphic allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence.
With a set of serious assault allegations looming, MLB placed Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer on administrative leave on Friday, the league announced with a statement:
“MLB’s investigation into the allegations made against Trevor Bauer is ongoing. While no determination in the case has been made, we have made the decision to place Mr. Bauer on seven-day administrative leave effective immediately. MLB continues to collect information in our ongoing investigation concurrent with the Pasadena Police Department’s active criminal investigation. We will comment further at the appropriate time.”
The decision will sideline Bauer for up to seven days, and possibly longer if the league deems it necessary for Bauer’s case. Bauer, who signed a three-year, $102 million deal with the Dodgers over the winter, will continue to be paid while on leave.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had previously been planning to still start Bauer on Sunday against the Washington Nationals, but said they were following MLB’s lead.
Where the Trevor Bauer case currently stands
A woman was granted a temporary ex parte restraining order against Bauer on Tuesday, alleging the pitcher had assaulted her during two sexual encounters earlier this year. Bauer will receive a chance to contest the allegations at a hearing, scheduled for July 23.
The matter is still under investigation by the Pasadena Police Department, though the woman reportedly said she was concerned about the pace of the investigation in her filing for the restraining order. Marc Garelick, a lawyer representing the woman, said in a statement to Yahoo Sports on Tuesday that they anticipate criminal action being taken against Bauer.
Graphic details of the woman’s allegations against Bauer emerged a day after she was granted the restraining order. In their first encounter, she claimed Bauer had choked her to unconsciousness with her own hair and woke up with him having anal sex with her, something she said she never consented to. In the second encounter, she says he choked her to unconsciousness again, twice, and that she woke up with him punching her in the head several times.
The alleged victim reportedly provided photos of her face visibly bruised with two black eyes, a bloodied lip and scratches to the side of her face, as well as medical notes indicating “significant head and facial trauma” with signs of a basilar skull fracture.
Bauer’s representatives have contested the woman’s account of the two encounters, claiming both were “wholly consensual.” On Wednesday, they released screengrabs of text messages to Yahoo Sports they say were purposefully omitted from the woman’s filing, in which the woman appears to consent to being choked and slapped in the face, but not punched.
What does MLB do now?
While MLB’s decision to place Bauer on leave sidelines him for the near future, it is not the final decision for the league to make.
In past in-season cases, Roberto Osuna, Addison Russell and Domingo German were placed on paid leave and had their stint extended before the league issued suspensions under its domestic violence policy: 75 games for Osuna, 40 games for Russell and 81 games for German, counting their administrative leave as time served.
There have also been cases like that of Bauer’s teammate Julio Urias, who was reinstated from administrative leave after seven days with no suspension despite still facing domestic battery charges.
If MLB decides to suspend Bauer, he would also lose his salary — an MLB-high $40 million in 2021 — for games missed over the course of the suspension.
More from Yahoo Sports: