Dodgers Front Office Comments on Trevor Bauer Release For First Time

Team executives from the Los Angeles Dodgers commented publicly about the Trevor Bauer situation for the first time Wednesday.

The Dodgers officially released Bauer in January, taking until the final deadline day to make their decision.

READ: TREVOR BAUER OFFICIALLY RELEASED, CAN SIGN WITH ANY TEAM FOR MLB MINIMUM

Since then, the team had only issued a general statement announcing the release.

But top organizational executives like Andrew Friedman and team president Stan Kasten have now spoken out on their process.

Kasten told the LA Times that he stood by the decision and that he was “very comfortable with it.”

The delay between reinstatement and the announcement was partially because of the holiday break, but the team certainly took its time.

"We took the time to get as much input as we could to be sure we were making the right decision," Kasten said. "That’s what we did. We feel we did make the right decision."

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 31: Trevor Bauer #27 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches during the sixth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium on May 31, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)

Dodgers Statements on Bauer

According to Fox News, Kasten stated that the decision was “unanimous” at the end of the day.

"I will say I’m responsible for everything that happens here," Kasten added. "But everyone who needed to be involved was involved, was included in the discussion all along the way. It was unanimous at the end for sure.”

One twist during the process was a revelation from Bauer that he’d met with team officials the day before the release. He claimed that they’d told him privately that they wanted to keep him.

According to Kasten, that’s not exactly what happened.

“I’m not gonna get into contradicting or agreeing with anything about what was supposed to be a private conversation,” Kasten said, according to The Athletic “we all had a strong feeling all the way through the process of the right way to handle this.”

He also added that the Dodgers hadn’t made a decision before the meeting.

Andrew Friedman explained that they relied heavily on the fact that the league and arbitrator determined Bauer was in violation of MLB policy.

“Most of what we know came from the fact that the commissioner’s office and the independent arbitrator reviewed all the aspects of the case and found him to be in violation (of the policy),” Friedman said. “As we went through that, that was enough for us.”

Even More Questions

But that statement raises a few questions.

If the Dodgers viewed violating league policy as definitive, what were they deliberating for two weeks?

As soon as the arbitrator decided to essentially uphold the majority of the suspension, the policy violation was confirmed.

Why wait after that?

It does imply that the organization may have been deliberating if they could keep Bauer or if the media pressure would be too intense.

Given that Bauer hasn’t signed elsewhere, the Dodgers likely correctly assessed that the PR hit would be too significant.

They may have come to their decision slowly, but Friedman’s explanation raises more questions than it answers.

Los Angeles media universally supported the decision to let Bauer walk, but criticized the team for taking two weeks to make the announcement.

Wednesday’s comments may have been their attempt to save some face with local sportswriters.

Regardless, the team will pay him $22 million to stay home this year. Or if some team is brave enough, to pitch against them.