Editors’ note: This story contains graphic accounts of domestic violence and sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault or domestic violence, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
Trevor Bauer is gone from the Dodgers, but the mistake of signing him continues to impact them. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said last week he expects the team to remain over the first luxury tax threshold this year, a remnant of the reduced suspension ruling by an arbitrator that left the Dodgers on the hook for $22.5 million in salary to Bauer, or $24.5 million in dead competitive balance tax money.
With plans to fold young players into their roster this year from a flush farm system, the Dodgers considered an opportunity to get under the $233 million first tax threshold and reset their tax rate as a first-time offender for 2024. But after the Bauer ruling, and after multiyear deals last week for Miguel Rojas and Tony Gonsolin, they have crept to $238 million.
