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Trevor Bauer’s initial 324-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy has been reduced to 194 games by an arbitrator, the league announced Thursday, ending a seven-month grievance process and bringing some clarity to a saga that has been unfolding for the past year and a half.

Bauer has served only 144 games of his suspension, but arbitrator Martin Scheinman ruled that he is eligible to be reinstated immediately, essentially giving him credit for the time he served on MLB’s restricted list in the second half of the 2021 season. Bauer, however, will be docked his pay from the Los Angeles Dodgers through the first 50 games of the 2023 season to make up the difference.

The Dodgers have 14 days to decide whether they will reinstate him onto their 40-man roster. The team released a short statement Thursday night that read: “We have just been informed of the arbitrator’s ruling and will comment as soon as practical.”

Bauer, as part of a tweet, wrote: “Can’t wait to see y’all out at a stadium soon!”

Bauer is under contract with the Dodgers for only one more season, on a deal that initially called for him to be paid $32 million. With the 194-game suspension, the Dodgers saved about $28.1 million off his 2022 salary and will save another $9.5 million off his 2023 salary.

Despite the reduction, Bauer’s suspension stands as the longest in the six-plus years of the domestic violence policy.

Bauer, the 31-year-old former Cy Young Award winner, has been facing sexual assault allegations since June 2021, notably by a San Diego woman who obtained a temporary restraining order against him. Bauer refuted her allegations and remains in litigation with the woman. Two other women made similar assault allegations to the Washington Post, which Bauer and his legal team have also refuted.

The L.A. District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute Bauer in February, but MLB handed him a 324-game suspension on April 30, twice longer than the previous longest suspension under its policy. Bauer then became the first player to appeal.

Scheinman is an independent arbitrator who is retained by both MLB and the MLB Players Association.

“While we believe a longer suspension was warranted, MLB will abide by the neutral arbitrator’s decision, which upholds baseball’s longest-ever active player suspension for sexual assault or domestic violence,” MLB wrote in its statement Thursday. “We understand this process was difficult for the witnesses involved and we thank them for their participation. Due to the collectively bargained confidentiality provisions of the joint program, we are unable to provide further details at this time.”

Bauer joined the Dodgers in February 2021 on a three-year, $102 million contract that included two opt-outs — but he hasn’t pitched since June 28 of the first year.

The following day, a then-27-year-old San Diego woman filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) in which she alleged that Bauer assaulted her over the course of two sexual encounters at his Pasadena, California, home in April and May of that year. The woman — whom ESPN has chosen not to name — alleged that he choked her unconscious on multiple occasions, repeatedly scratched and punched her throughout her body, sodomized her without consent and left her with injuries that warranted a trip to the emergency room after rough sex. Bauer and his attorneys, Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba, denied the allegations, calling them “fraudulent” and “baseless” in an initial statement.

MLB first placed Bauer on administrative leave on July 2, 2021, triggering an investigation. After that, two other women, both from Ohio, made similar allegations to the Post. In August 2021, a woman told the Post she sought a DVRO against Bauer in June 2020 and accused him of choking and striking her without consent during sex and sending threatening messages. That woman, the Post reported, dismissed her order six weeks later after Bauer’s attorneys threatened legal action. The second woman alleged to the Post that Bauer choked her unconscious without consent on multiple occasions dating back to 2013.

MLB said it conducted “an extensive investigation” into Bauer’s off-field conduct but did not disclose specifics of its findings, nor did it reveal how many women made assault allegations against him.

Bauer, meanwhile, has denied wrongdoing, saying the acts were consensual. He denied the first woman’s allegations on Twitter and published sexually explicit text messages from her in an effort to show consent. In August 2021, after an L.A. judge dismissed the San Diego woman’s request for a permanent restraining order, Bauer released a seven-minute video on YouTube in which he categorically denied her version of events.

The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges against Bauer in February 2022, rejecting charges of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and sodomy of an unconscious person and domestic violence. But MLB, which, according to sources, heard similar allegations from multiple women, suspended him three months later.

Prior to Bauer, 15 players had been suspended under the domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy that was introduced in August 2015. The policy, jointly agreed to with the MLB Players Association, grants MLB commissioner Rob Manfred the autonomy to suspend players under “just cause” and does not require him to meet the proof-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt threshold required in the country’s court system. Those suspensions — not counting that of former reliever Felipe Vazquez, who’s serving a jail sentence for sexual assault of a minor — have ranged from 15 to 162 games and were the result of negotiated settlements in which players waived their right to appeal.

Bauer became the first player to challenge a ruling, triggering a prolonged process in which a three-person panel — consisting of one rep from MLB, another from the MLBPA and an independent arbiter (in this case, Scheinman) — reviews findings and interviews witnesses to determine whether to uphold, reduce or throw out a suspension.

After MLB first placed Bauer on administrative leave, the Dodgers canceled his scheduled bobblehead night and removed his merchandise from their stores. Team president Stan Kasten sent an email to employees in August 2021, saying he was “deeply troubled by the allegations” against Bauer. Outside of that, the team had not commented publicly before their statement Thursday.

Bauer’s suspension, initially slated to last until the 19th game of the 2024 season, kept the Dodgers from paying him in 2022. Uncertainty over the arbitrators’ ruling was seen as a primary reason the Dodgers, hesitant to exceed the luxury tax threshold a third consecutive year, mostly stayed away from the star free agents this offseason.

In recent months, Bauer has continued to populate his YouTube channel with videos of him taking part in lively bullpen sessions and providing pitching tips.

Bauer has filed defamation lawsuits against two media companies, Deadspin and The Athletic. He also filed suit against the San Diego woman, who followed with a countersuit this past August. On Nov. 23, U.S. District Court Judge James Selna allowed the San Diego woman to proceed with her lawsuit and dismissed Bauer’s defamation suit against one of her former attorneys. In his ruling, Selna wrote that the initial denial of the restraining order by L.A. Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman did not determine whether Bauer had committed an act of abuse and that neither party had asked her to make such a determination.

“The state court proceedings did not necessarily decide that Bauer did not batter or sexually assault [the woman],” Selna added.

Bauer won the Golden Spikes Award at UCLA in 2011 and was the No. 3 draft pick that year. He clashed with teammates in Arizona, prompting a trade, and had two notable incidents in Cleveland, allegedly cutting his finger with a drone before a 2016 playoff start and hurling a baseball over the center-field fence after being removed from a 2019 outing on July 28, 2019, three days before being traded again.

Bauer clashed with Manfred over his handling of the Houston Astros‘ sign-stealing scandal and the commissioner’s efforts to market the game to a younger audience, among other topics. He has built a reputation as a difficult teammate, but he is also considered one of the most forward-thinking, analytically minded pitchers in the sport.

Bauer made a case for a Cy Young Award in 2018, then won it during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season while with the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers signed him later that offseason, outbidding the New York Mets despite rampant criticism surrounding Bauer’s history of bullying others on social media. Bauer pitched like an ace for Los Angeles in the first half of the 2021 season, posting a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts.

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NCAA votes for single transfer portal window

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NCAA votes for single transfer portal window

Major changes are coming to the transfer portal in college football after the NCAA FBS Oversight Committee voted Thursday to move to a January transfer window and eliminate the spring window.

The proposed lone transfer window would be a 10-day period that opens Jan. 2, 2026, one day after the College Football Playoff quarterfinals are completed. The Division I Administrative Committee must approve the legislative changes before it can take effect. The vote is expected to occur before Oct. 1.

The committee is also proposing making the entire month of December a recruiting dead period. Coaches would still be able to have contact with recruits but would not be permitted to do on- or off-campus recruiting visits or evaluations.

FBS coaches voted unanimously to support the January portal proposal during their American Football Coaches Association convention earlier this year, saying it will give players and coaches more time to focus on finishing their season while preserving the opportunity for players to transfer to their new school for the spring semester.

In recent years, the portal has opened for underclassmen transfers in early December immediately following conference championship games and bowl selections. In 2024-25, the winter transfer window was Dec. 9-28, and the spring portal period was April 16-25.

The collision of transfer transactions, coaching changes, high school signing day and CFP and bowl games in December has been a major source of frustration for coaching staffs. Last season, Penn State and SMU lost backup quarterbacks to the portal while they were still competing in the playoff, and Marshall opted out of the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl after determining it did not have enough players to compete due to departures brought on by a coaching change.

This season, the CFP semifinals will be held Jan. 9-10 while the national title game is set for Jan. 20.

The elimination of the spring window, if approved, will generally be welcomed by coaches but could come under scrutiny and perhaps legal challenges for restricting the transfer movement of athletes.

The NCAA’s FBS and FCS oversight committees recommended eliminating the spring window last August, citing the importance of roster stability for football programs, but did not move forward with pursuing that change while schools reckoned with the implications of the House settlement, revenue sharing and new roster limits in college athletics.

Last year, the NCAA had to abandon its one-time transfer rule amid legal challenges and pass emergency legislation to permit unlimited transfers for athletes who are academically eligible and meeting progress-to-degree requirements.

The spring portal window has traditionally been the final opportunity for players to make moves ahead of their upcoming season. Some coaches have taken advantage of it to cut players from their roster and sign additional transfers. Others view the spring portal period as giving players and their representatives too much leverage to seek more money from deals with schools that were previously signed in December and January.

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava became the latest high-profile example in April when he opted to enter the portal and transfer to UCLA after a falling out with Tennessee’s coaching staff over NIL contract discussions.

In 2024-25, the NCAA’s Division I Council voted to reduce the total number of days players in FBS and FCS can be entered into the portal from 45 to 30. Dropping to 10 would represent another significant reduction that results in a frenzied period with thousands of players becoming available at the same time. Players can commit and transfer to their next school at any time after their names have been entered into the portal.

If the recommendation is approved, graduate transfers would also have to wait until Jan. 2 to enter their names in the transfer portal. Players who have earned their degree and are moving on as graduate transfers have traditionally been permitted to transfer before underclassmen players during the portal era. Last year, they were allowed to begin entering their names in the portal on Oct. 1.

The NCAA has also previously made exceptions on transfer window dates for players at schools going through coaching changes and for those on teams whose postseason ends after the portal window closes.

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Bills QB Allen to have jersey retired at Wyoming

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Bills QB Allen to have jersey retired at Wyoming

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen has accomplished plenty of firsts in his career.

He’ll corral another one in November as the University of Wyoming is set to retire Allen’s No. 17. The Buffalo Bills quarterback will be the first Cowboy to have their jersey retired.

A ceremony to retire Allen’s jersey will take place Nov. 22 during halftime of Wyoming’s game against Nevada. Allen will be in attendance for the game and ceremony with the Bills having the weekend off as they play on “Thursday Night Football” that week at the Houston Texans.

“What’s up, Cowboys fans. Josh Allen here,” Allen said in a video announcing the retirement. “I’m excited to announce that I will be returning to University of Wyoming Nov. 22 against University of Nevada. Excited to be back in Laramie. Go Pokes.”

The reigning NFL MVP will make his return to the school for the first time since he was chosen by the Bills seventh in 2018, Wyoming’s highest draft pick.

After starting his collegiate career as a no-star recruit and playing at Reedley College, a juco program in central California, Allen transferred to Wyoming, playing there from 2015 to 2017. After suffering a broken collarbone his first year in Laramie, he led the school to back-to-back eight-win seasons, finishing his career with 5,066 passing yards, 767 rushing yards and 57 total touchdowns. The two-time team captain was also named MVP of the 2017 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

“It is very exciting and a wonderful day for the State of Wyoming,” University of Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman said in a statement. “It is going to be a big day in the history of Wyoming Football. Josh is the most high-profile ambassador the University of Wyoming has ever had.”

The Bills kick off the season Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens (8:20 ET, NBC).

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Sources: North Carolina, Belichick ban Pats staff

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Sources: North Carolina, Belichick ban Pats staff

North Carolina and first-year head coach Bill Belichick have banned the New England Patriots’ staff from accessing the Tar Heels’ program, sources told ESPN.

When reached by ESPN, North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi said, “Good luck” and then hung up the phone. UNC also declined comment.

Lombardi and Tar Heels pro liason Frantzy Jourdain informed the Patriots that they would be banned from UNC the day before one of their scouts was scheduled to visit in August, a source with direct knowledge told ESPN.

Two NFL scouts who work for other teams told ESPN that North Carolina, under Belichick’s leadership, offers limited access to all NFL personnel. Clubs are allowed to speak only with Jourdain, and UNC’s college relations website says that “scouts will have zero access to coaches or other personnel people,” according to the scouts.

The term “zero access” appears three times on UNC’s college relations website, a page accessible only to NFL personnel.

One scout said NFL personnel are only able to watch three periods of practice at UNC. Each college program varies in access to NFL personnel, but the scouts said that many programs allow scouts to watch full practices.

“Can’t think of another school with a statement of ‘zero access,'” one scout told ESPN.

3 & Out’s John Middlekauff first reported the news.

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