MLB owners blocked playoff teams from signing Trevor Bauer

Trevor Bauer says playoff teams wanted to sign him but were told not to.

Bauer claims people in multiple organizations wanted to bring him back to MLB, but team owners would not approve it.

He has not pitched in the majors since 2021.

In an interview with the Dominican YouTube page Rompiendo Sports, Bauer said front-office staff, coaches and players had told him they wanted to sign him but were not allowed to.

“We’ve talked to every team and all the baseball people, all the front office people, the GMs, the coaches, the players, they’re all, ‘Yeah, we want you.’

‘We want to sign you.’

‘We’d sign you in a heartbeat, but we’re not allowed to,’” Bauer said, as reported by Fox News.

Bauer also said people on playoff teams had urged their organizations to sign him.

Some were warned they would be fired if they raised his name again.

“We had people on playoff teams this past year that were like, ‘We need Trevor.

‘Bring him in.’

And they're like, ‘If you bring his name up again, we will fire you on the spot.

‘Do not bring it up again.’

I mean, we’re talking playoff teams, really good people,” Bauer said.

He said people from organizations he had previously been with had told him they were working against his return.

“We’ve had people in organizations that I’ve been with in the past, they’re like, ‘Hey, I can’t say this publicly because I’ll lose my job.

‘But just know they’re working against you.

‘They’re not going to let you play again.

‘So, just so you can know in your head and move on with your life, they will never let you play again.’

And I know this.

We’ve heard this stuff from all sorts of different [places].

It’s not just one team.

It’s like eight or 10 teams at this point,” he said.

The 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner has not pitched in the majors since 2021.

After sexual assault allegations, he received a 324-game suspension for violating MLB’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.

That suspension was later reduced to 184 games.

Bauer said he had hurt his case with negative press related to “sticky stuff and cheating scandals” and the accusations against him, which he has maintained are false.

“They don't have to let me back, because they can hide behind if an organization signs me, it would just be too much negative media pressure.

There's nothing I can do about it,” Bauer said.

He played in independent baseball and in Mexico during the 2026 season.

He is now playing in the Dominican Republic.

On June 28, 2021, he tossed six innings of two-run ball while striking out eight batters, recording the win for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Two days later, he was hit with sexual assault allegations.

Those allegations eventually led to the suspension.

Bauer has maintained his innocence throughout.

He settled with one accuser, Lindsey Hill, who accused the pitcher of beating and sexually abusing her in 2021.

That case was settled in late 2023.

Bauer revealed texts from Hill, who said that Bauer would be her “next victim,” among other messages.

Hill has since said that MLB has more evidence of Bauer's alleged misconduct.

Another accuser is facing 16 years in prison after being charged with fraud for allegedly faking a pregnancy and asking Bauer for money for an abortion.

Nearly two years ago, Bauer said he “may have no other choice” but to sue Major League Baseball “if I continue being kept out” of the league.

Bauer has said he would play in the majors for free.

At the time of the allegations, Bauer was pitching to a 2.59 ERA with the Dodgers.

He had signed the largest deal based on average annual value for a pitcher months before the allegations surfaced.

The interview with Rompiendo Sports was conducted while Bauer is playing in the Dominican winter league, LIDOM.

Bauer has not been quiet about his apparent blackballing from the league.