{"id":660746,"date":"2026-04-03T12:50:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660746\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:50:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:50:22","slug":"trevor-bauer-returns-to-america-signs-with-long-island-ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660746\/","title":{"rendered":"Trevor Bauer Returns To America, Signs With Long Island Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trevor Bauer is back in the U.S., but his baseball future looks closer to content than contention.<\/p>\n<p>PublishedApril 2, 2026 8:30 PM EDT\u2022UpdatedApril 2, 2026 8:30 PM EDT<\/p>\n<p>FacebookTwitterEmailCopy Link<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Trevor Bauer is back in the United States, and in one of baseball\u2019s strangest twists, he is headed to Long Island.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">The Atlantic League club announced Thursday that it signed the 35-year-old right-hander for 2026, which is a homecoming in the most technical sense, but realistically not a bridge back to the big leagues for Bauer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-1328037234-594x594-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Bauer\u2019s exile from the Bigs followed a 194-game suspension for violating MLB\u2019s domestic violence policy after allegations surfaced in 2021, including the high-profile case involving Lindsey Hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Los Angeles prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, and by October 2023, Bauer and Hill had settled their dueling lawsuits with both claims withdrawn and no money changing hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Other civil disputes ended without reopening a path back to the majors. But the label stuck, and Bauer spent years offering to pitch for the league minimum, only to get a league-wide NO THANKS from all 29 clubs not named the Dodgers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Instead, Bauer will be the Ducks\u2019 Opening Night starter, and the stats say he still has something left. Bauer logged a 2.76 ERA with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in 2023, then posted a 2.48 mark with Diablos Rojos del Mexico in 2024. But the PR baggage is still weighing him down. MLB front offices are not shopping for a 35-year-old migraine who has not thrown a major league pitch since 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-2171088612-594x594-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Trevor Bauer of Diablos Rojos poses with the championship medal after Game 4 of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol Finals against Sultanes Monterrey at Estadio Mobil Super on September 9, 2024, in Monterrey, Mexico. (Photo by Alfredo Lopez\/Jam Media\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">So yes, Bauer\u2019s return to the States is surprising. His return to relevant baseball is not.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">In this new stage of his career, Bauer will likely be facing hitters who sell insurance in the offseason. The Ducks have long been a stop for former big leaguers chasing one last chance to play.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Bauer will draw a crowd in Suffolk County and rack up YouTube views, but the lights of Citi Field might as well be on the moon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Trevor Bauer is back in America, but as far as Major League Baseball is concerned, he is already a ghost.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Send us your thoughts: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/sports\/mailto:alejandro.avila@outkick.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">alejandro.avila@outkick.com<\/a> \/ Follow along on X: @<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlejandroAveela\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">alejandroaveela<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trevor Bauer is back in the U.S., but his baseball future looks closer to content than contention. PublishedApril&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5],"class_list":{"0":"post-660746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116340865430078106","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}