IF TREVOR BAUER NEVER WAS CHARGED AND IS FREE TO PITCH, THEN LET HIM

The fact-deniers are in full scream and demanding that the Dodgers cut him, but Bauer keeps winning crucial legal decisions as Steve Cohen watches and a convicted NBA player is wooed by Michael Jordan

     If the actual adjudicators matter — this is America, right? — Trevor Bauer qualifies as a courtroom All-Star. A judge ruled in his favor when his accuser sought a restraining order. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office ruled in his favor after she accused him of rape, suddenly disregarding the wild texts where she implored him (“Rawr,” she wrote) to make rough sex even rougher the second time around.

     Then, when Major League Baseball wanted his 324-game suspension to be upheld per its domestic violence policy, an independent arbitrator reduced it last week, reinstated him and declared him eligible to pitch on Opening Day. At this rate, Gloria Allred might side with Bauer.

     “Can’t wait to see y’all out at a stadium soon!” he wrote, in a tweet liked 17,500 times.

     Yet here come the High-Horse Hypocrites, hellbent on stuffing Bauer into a dumpster and burying him in a landfill site for life. I call them the High-Horse Hypocrites because if the worst moments of their lives ever were revealed, it might not be pretty. They conveniently ignore the facts, such as: Bauer never has been arrested, never has been charged with a crime and keeps winning crucial legal decisions. He immediately should resume his career, yet in Los Angeles, where I live, there is pressure on the Dodgers to release him by Jan. 6 and strong sentiment in the Times sports section to burn him in hell.

     I’m not sure how significant that pressure is. In a real world where people are just trying to survive and avoid killer storms characterized as “bomb cyclones,” keeping Bauer out of uniform next year isn’t a high nationwide priority. More than ever, fans want their teams to win and their gambling bets to pay off and don’t tend to stress over non-convicted athletes. The Chavez Ravine upper-ups, whose bright idea to sign Bauer has backfired, likely are inclined to release him and whitewash their self-inflicted burden. But if the Dodgers decided to abandon their “Blue Heaven on Earth” image and bring him back for the final season of his three-year, $102 million deal, I’m thinking fans would consider a ravaged pitching staff — an aging Clayton Kershaw, no Walker Buehler, no high-priced reinforcements such as Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander, no established closer — and figure Bauer is worth the $22.5 million, or the 69.1 percent of salary owed him after his pay was docked for the first 50 games. That reduction keeps the 2023 payroll, by the way, just under the $233 million tax threshold. Fans know the everyday lineup is gutted — no Trea Turner, no Justin Turner, no Cody Bellinger, kids everywhere — and that the San Diego Padres continue to out-Dodger the Dodgers and spend massive sums.

     Would there be a mild protest or two on Vin Scully Avenue? Maybe. Would Kershaw and others in the clubhouse balk? Yes. But fans generally would do the math and realize Bauer could be good for 15 wins, at least. He won the National League Cy Young Award in 2020. He was contending for another Cy in 2021, striking out 137 in 107 2/3 innings with a 2.59 ERA before his legal issues took him off the mound. His right arm is rested, having not been used in a major-league game in almost 18 months. If the measure is baseball and baseball only, Bauer is a blue light special, an all-time bargain in an offseason of unprecedented free-agent splurging.

     And you don’t think Steve Cohen knows this in New York?

     You don’t think he realizes he can get Bauer for the $720,000 major-league minimum salary, that the Dodgers would be obligated to pay the remaining money? Obviously, Cohen doesn’t care much about backlash. He already is established as the biggest ownership renegade in American sports, having obliterated the MLB luxury tax and spending at unprecedented levels that force other owners to ponder their future in the industry. Only he could throw $315 million at Carlos Correa, then shrug when Mets doctors found the same issues with his lower right leg that San Francisco Giants doctors flagged. If New York fans don’t care about Bauer’s legal history — and most won’t — why wouldn’t Cohen chase him after losing him to the Dodgers three winters ago? If nothing else, a bottom-tier team such as Pittsburgh might take a flyer, knowing folks in that town are barely aware the Pirates still exist.

     But Trevor Bauer will pitch, somewhere, in 2023.

     As well he should, which the High-Horse Hypocrites might accept if they looked around the sports world and weighed what happens to athletes who actually are convicted.

     Miles Bridges, for instance, will return to the NBA at some point. His boss in Charlotte, a certain Michael Jordan, is discussing a new long-term offer with the forward for tens of millions of dollars. This will happen despite his recent conviction on one charge of felony domestic violence, which came after his significant other wrote in an Instagram post — long since deleted — that she suffered a fractured nose, a fractured wrist, a torn eardrum, torn neck muscles and a concussion before Bridges choked her to sleep.

     In addition to graphic photos — from her injuries, she said — Mychelle Johnson included a particularly disturbing video last summer. Her son asked during a call with an unnamed woman, “Did Daddy choke Mommy?” All of which happened two weeks after Johnson posted a nude photo of herself on social media.

     “I hate that it has come to this but I can’t be silent anymore," Johnson wrote in the post. “I’ve allowed someone to destroy my home, abuse me in every way possible and traumatize our kids for life. I have nothing to prove to the world, but I won’t allow anyone who could do something so horrible to have no remorse and paint a picture of something I’m not. I won’t allow the people around him to continue to silence me and continue to lie to protect this person. It’s unethical, it’s immoral, it’s truly SICK.”

     Bridges will serve a league suspension. It will be lengthy — as it should be, after an investigation is completed by the commissioner’s office. He will lend his time to domestic violence groups in North and South Carolina. There will be public protests. But he’ll play again for the Hornets, who have the league’s second-worst record, after averaging 20 points and 7 rebounds last season. If Bridges is rewarded with a sizable contract, Jordan should face the media and answer all questions, though the outcry has been minimal since ESPN broke the story last week. Based on his conviction, Bridges deserves to sit out the rest of this season and all of next season, but the punishment will be less than that, as he is represented by the influential Klutch Sports agency run by Rich Paul and founded by LeBron James.

     So please explain why Bauer shouldn’t pitch. Unlike Bridges, he was cleared of criminality, maintaining rough sex was consensual with a San Diego woman who drove to his home in Pasadena, 130 miles away, on two occasions in 2021. After the first encounter, she sent him the incriminating text — “Never been more turned on in my life. Gimme all the pain. Rawr” — and told him she liked being choked. She said Bauer grew violent and sexually assaulted her, yet, after a five-month investigation, he was cleared last February by the L.A. District Attorney. If the D.A. wasn’t swayed by her photos — remember, photos aren’t always authentic — the matter should have been closed. But MLB likes to think of itself as above the law, though its ownership ranks have been filled with lawbreakers, and suspended Bauer for two full seasons. The ban was reduced to 194 games when independent arbitrator Martin Scheinman saw something in the discovery bin that turned him against MLB. Bauer has lost $37.5 million in salary, a figure that would have been $60 million without the games reduction. He has missed a season and a half of his baseball life. He has more than paid a prohibitive price without having an arrest on his record.

     “While we are pleased that Mr. Bauer has been reinstated immediately, we disagree that any discipline should have been imposed,” said a statement from his representatives, as tweeted by agent Rachel Luba. “Mr. Bauer looks forward to his return to the field, where his goal remains to help his team win a WS.” That would be a World Series. I’ve seen sports teams sell their souls to bigger villains and win championships.

     Yet there was columnist Bill Plaschke, in the L.A. Times, treating Bauer like a mass murderer and urging the Dodgers to cut him at once. Normally a careful wordsmith, Plaschke wrote: “Did this player just serve a record-long suspension for alleged violence toward women?”

     Notice his use of “alleged.” Media lawyers, such as those at the Times, insist “alleged” be used as a buffer if any doubt remains about whether a crime was committed. Again, Bauer never has been arrested or charged. So Plaschke and other Bauer bashers are drawing scorched-earth conclusions based on “alleged’’ crimes that were not backed up the D.A. Did Judge Bill personally witness the activities in Bauer’s sex den? Was he there on those two occasions? Does he know something no one else knows? Not even the Dodgers have access to MLB’s investigative details, so his outrage is based on what, exactly? A hunch? A wishful-thinking whim centered around the media’s general and well-founded dislike for Bauer, dating back years? He can’t possibly hang on the original ruling of a commissioner, Rob Manfred, who gets enough wrong on baseball matters to evoke much doubt about his prosecutorial capabilities. After all, Manfred doesn’t need much evidence to issue a suspension, per a 2015 agreement between MLB and the Players Association that allows him to punish players for “just cause.”

     So, for all the huffing and puffing, the Bauer case comes down to rough sex in the eyes of the courts. I’m not into rough sex, personally. Creeps me out. Bauer and his accuser creep me out, in fact. But I realize S&M is part of life in some dark corners, as observed in Paul Giamatti’s character — a prosecutor, by the way — on the TV show “Billions.” Rihanna sang about it. And I also know that Bauer’s accuser, a recovering alcoholic, bragged to her AA sponsor that she was chasing him for money, texting, “Give me $50 million and just slap my cl-t.”

     “Hey bitch, pretty soon it’ll be rich bitch,” she also wrote.

     “Secure the bag,” the sponsor wrote back.

     She wouldn’t be the first person to stretch the truth in a legal case. On Dec. 12, Randi Trew accused her fiancée, University of Texas basketball coach Chris Beard, of strangling her. He was arrested after she told police officers that he bit her and strangled her from behind, preventing her from breathing for several seconds. The police report listed bite marks on her arm, abrasions on her face and leg and a quote from Trew: “He choked me, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around and going nuts.” The report did not mention Beard’s later claim that he acted in self-defense.

     Not two weeks later, Trew recanted, saying he didn’t strangle her and never wanted him to be arrested or prosecuted. In a statement sent to the Associated Press by her attorney, Trew said: “Chris and I are deeply saddened that we have brought negative attention upon our family, friends, and the University of Texas, among others. As Chris’ fiancée and biggest supporter, I apologize for the role I played in this unfortunate event. I realize that my frustration, when breaking his glasses, initiated a physical struggle between Chris and myself.

     “Chris did not strangle me, and I told that to law enforcement that evening. Chris has stated that he was acting in self-defense, and I do not refute that. I do not believe Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way. It was never my intent to have him arrested or prosecuted. We appreciate everyone’s support and prayers during this difficult time.”

     The university, which suspended Beard indefinitely, has yet to decide when — or if — he’ll return to the sideline. The Longhorns are ranked seventh in the most recent AP national poll and are 3-0 since his suspension. He was lured to Austin with a big contract, at more than $5 million a season, after leading Texas Tech to the national championship game in 2019. University officials, who employ recovering alcoholic Steve Sarkisian as their football coach, will have to determine how much of her story was fabricated. Expect the suspension to continue before he resumes duties later this season.

     Never, ever assume in a domestic abuse case. Lies once were told about me. I ultimately prevailed in a civil case — money was the end game — after detailing every fact and shooting down every falsehood. In quick order, the matter was dropped.

     The experience makes me uniquely qualified to comment on Bauer, Bridges and Beard, which sounds like a law firm in itself. I know how the legal system works. And what I see is a pitcher who never was criminally charged, a NBA player debatably receiving a second chance from the sport’s G.O.A.T. and a college coach who was not trying to asphyxiate his fiancée despite her original accusation. To believe every allegation at face value, simply because it fits your politics or meets your newspaper’s agenda or appeases woke culture, is a fool’s game in a crazy world.

     The High-Horse Hypocrites ramble on anyway.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.