I made the mistake of looking at Twitter this morning when I awoke briefly, and was greeted with a night terror, the news that the Central League’s DeNA BayStars are finalizing a deal with Trevor Bauer.
I’m a huge believer in second chances, but giving Bauer a second chance in Japan now is giving an admitted serial shoplifter a second chance to steal more.
According to the BayStars, as reported by Sponichi Annex and Nikkan Sports, the team investigated Bauer’s status with MLB and talked to him, in which he denied doing what he was accused of in court. The stories said a complaint against him was thrown out in court, but that is a woeful misreading of the facts.
A San Diego woman seeking a restraining order against Bauer testified in Los Angeles Superior Court that he choked her “into unconsciousness and punched her repeatedly during sex.” Bauer had the opportunity, in court, under oath, to deny those allegations, but did not.
The judge denied the woman’s request for a restraining order because she did not believe the pitcher posed a threat to the woman, and accepted Bauer’s assertion that she asked him for rough sex and he gave her what she asked for.
Bauer, who has been credibly accused of similar sexual misconduct by other women, now portrays himself as a victim, saying he did not do the things he copped to in court, and that he was found “innocent” when a judge only found that he did not need to have a restraining order imposed on him because the woman had asked him for violent sex.
His current tack is to play the martyr, that he never did anything wrong.
Signing him indicates the BayStars are either a) ignorant, stupid or gullible, or b) calculating that the market for their wins in 2023 is of more longterm value than any potential damage, or c) calculating that their market cares not the least about their hiring an admitted sexual predator.
Having met some of the top BayStars baseball operations people, I’m inclined to go with option “a.”
Time to add DeNA to Yakult, Lotte and SoftBank for their willingness to give unmerited second chances that threaten to damage Japan’s pro baseball business. It could go real well for the team, provided not enough people care enough to act based on the truth and boycott DeNA over this sorry excuse of a business decision.
