Outside The Confines: The Dodgers are erasing Trevor Bauer

The saga of the reports against Trevor Bauer continues to look worse and worse for the LA Dodgers pitcher. Following accusations of assault from a former partner, Bauer has claimed that he’s innocent of the charges, but since the story and the subsequent medical details have been released things continue to look bad for Bauer.

This week, the Dodgers scrapped a Bauer bobblehead night, and pulled all of the Bauer-themed merchandise from stores and the website, and now even his teammates are distancing themselves.

Whatever comes of the legal aspects of this case, it’s clear the Dodgers are doing everything they can to disassociate themselves from Bauer at present.

• Bill Shaikin shares that the Dodgers have canceled an upcoming Trevor Bauer bobblehead night and have also pulled Bauer merchandise from their stores and website.
• Shaikin also looks at how Bauer’s testimony could create a lot of future problems for him.
• Sheryl Ring wrote an incredibly personal piece on her history with abusive relationships after Bauer’s camp made contact with her over a piece from earlier in the month.
• And Bauer’s administrative leave may be extended indefinitely. This entire Twitter thread is worth reading.

At OTC we don’t enjoy sharing these types of news stories in the lead position, but unfortunately what’s happening with Bauer right now is a big story, and we want to provide you with links to good coverage of the situation.

Now on to the rest of Friday’s links!

• Ben Clemens takes a look at the unexpectedly excellent Giants bullpen.
• Carmen Ciardiello has some lingering questions as to what’s going on with Zack Greinke’s strikeouts.
• Pat Ragazzo shares that Jacob deGrom has opted out of the All-Star Game.
• Mike Trout has been arguably the greatest ballplayer of his generation, but 10 years into his career, David Adler wonders “what comes next?”
• Joon Lee shares the very cool bats Pete Alonso will be using to defend his Home Run Derby title.
• Rob Mains argues that in spite of Stickygate, 2021 was never going to be the year of the pitcher. (Baseball Prospectus Premium required.)
• Michael Baumann takes a what-if approach, wondering what things would look like now if the Mariners had drafted Francisco Lindor.
• Shohei Ohtani continues to make history as he sets a single-season home run record for a Japanese-born player... and it’s only July 9. Story by Nick Selbe.
• Mike Petriello wonders if Shohei Ohtani might just be a real-life superhero.
• Alden Gonzalez shares recollections from Ohtani’s teammates of the incredible feats they’ve witnessed so far.
• Ken Rosenthal can’t pretict the future, but he knows we ought to be basking in how great the present is when it comes to Ohtani. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Did you know Lin-Manuel Miranda has a cousin who plays ball?]

• Russell A. Carleton would like you to take a moment to imagine MLB with no divisions. (Baseball Prospectus Premium required.)
• CC Sabathia, with Chris Smith, shares the experience of Black players trying to make their way in a game whether they’re expected to play “the white way.”
• If you missed KBP action recently, Justin Choi is here to catch you up on everything that happened in June.
• Sam Dykstra has a primer on the Futures Game if you’re planning on tuning in but not sure what to expect.
• Emma Baccellieri has the moving story of Katie Hamilton, the former wife of trouble MLBer Josh Hamilton, and what life looks like for her now.
• Lindsey Adler, Britt Ghiroli, Eno Sarris write about how it’s high time for MLB to find a better baseball. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Buster Olney wonders what the market is going to look like at the trade deadline this year with so many teams motivated to sell.
• Patrick Dubuque explores the truth about base stealing. (Baseball Prospectus Premium required.)
• Manny Randhawa does some historical diving into the baseball cards showing teams we forgot players were on.
• Nick Selbe gives us an overview of the no-hitter that wasn’t, between the Rays and Cleveland.
• Brendan Gawlowski explores the troubling trend of Cleveland getting no-hit against after the Rays no-hit the team on Wednesday.
• Since we shared a Lin-Manuel Miranda tweet above, here’s in keeping with the broadway theme, and an account I had no idea existed until yesterday.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.