Dodgers: Ex-pitcher Dave Stewart takes firm stance against Trevor Bauer

When the Los Angeles Dodgers host a 40th anniversary celebration for their 1981 World Series victory on July 25, former Cy Young-caliber starter Dave Stewart, a rookie relief ace on that team, will not be in attendance.

Sure, he’d love to reminisce with his teammates about the golden year that fell precisely when his career was just beginning.

Absolutely, he’d love to see what the Dodgers have planned to honor Tommy Lasorda, the beloved patriarch of that team who missed the anniversary by only a few devastating months.

Fortunately, Stewart’s moral compunction is too strong to allow him to attend a ceremony meant to celebrate a franchise that seems to be unable to take a powerful stance on Trevor Bauer prior to Major League Baseball forcing their hand.

Several days after manager Dave Roberts claimed any informal punishment for Bauer was out of their hands — despite the fact that players get benched for lack of hustle or oversleeping constantly — Stewart took a stronger stance than anyone currently involved with the franchise, turning his ire towards the organization (and the teammates in the dugout) for allowing Bauer to coexist with them.

Former Dodgers ace Dave Stewart is boycotting the World Series celebration due to Trevor Bauer.

Stewart, currently an analyst on NBC Sports Bay Area and recently the GM of the Arizona Diamondbacks, knows a bit about player evaluation and the difficult calculus that goes into each and every addition. More often than those in the game would likely want to acknowledge, morality comes into play … before it’s swiftly discarded in the name of a bargain (see the Yankees and Aroldis Chapman).

With Bauer, though, the Dodgers were certainly not looking to stay frugal. This is a scenario where the team went above and beyond in paying and supporting the player following several targeted online harassment campaigns against women, and is now having trouble distancing themselves from that same player after horrific allegations of sexual assault emerged.

After telling the Dodgers he wouldn’t be participating in the team’s ceremony, he reportedly was met with an email reading, “The team and the Players Associations support the player until he’s guilty.’”

That, naturally, was the final straw for Stewart, who responded by leaking an all-caps response to the way the team has chosen to embrace someone who “BROKE THE UNWRITTEN RULE ON HOW YOU SHOULD TREAT WOMEN!”

Stewart, someone who absolutely did not have to make a public statement in this situation, did so because of what he believes in.

Based on everything we’re hearing, it does seem as if a lesser public figure would be experiencing a different reality from what Bauer’s currently facing. Good for Stewart in calling out the mass hypocrisy and sacrificing an event he was surely looking forward to in the name of what is right.

It’s time for the Dodgers to go for it all and trade for Kris Bryant

If the Los Angeles Dodgers want to make an earth-shattering offseason move, look no further than trading for Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant.