Deleted tweet confuses Dave Roberts and Dodgers’ timeline for Trevor Bauer

The Los Angeles Dodgers will open the 2022 season without Trevor Bauer, whose administrative leave has once again been extended through April 16 as MLB tries to come to a conclusion regarding his availability.

Beyond that date, Bauer’s future is anyone’s guess — but it’s also everyone’s catnip. Whether pro- or anti-Bauer, the entire baseball landscape remains desperate to figure out if or when he’ll be active again, leading to plenty of conclusion jumping and click generating.

On Thursday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked about Bauer’s status on the Rich Eisen Show, and responded with some classic manager speak, remaining cagey in the face of repeated questions.

According to Roberts, it was safe to assume he was preparing without Bauer for Opening Day — after all, MLB mandated it — but he largely refused to comment on the matter, saying, “I really can’t . I just don’t have the information. I’m just going to focus on the guys that are in camp.”

Somehow, in tweet form, that became Roberts saying goodbye to the Bauer Era, complete with the claim that he wouldn’t see him “soon, if ever again.”

Needless to say, Bauer joined the crusade to get that tweet deleted and clarified, and eventually the show responded in kind with a video of Roberts’ full quote as helpful accompaniment. But how’d we even get there in the first place?

Will the Dodgers bring Trevor Bauer back after his Administrative Leave?

It seems highly likely now that Bauer will have a big-league opportunity in 2022, though it seems equally unlikely the Dodgers will take the plunge, given how his actions torpedoed their 2021 rotation and chemistry.

Any Bauer trade will involve eating an ungodly amount of money, but if any team can do so, it’s the one that’s currently paying him.

Bauer, as expected, used the Eisen Show’s tweet as a shining example of media misinformation and manipulation — and this time, we understand. Because if a tweet can be clickbait, this one certainly was.

MLB seems content to kick the Bauer issue further down the road in small increments, just like they did last year, but after a court of law ended its process, any forthcoming suspension might not be long enough to void his contract.

In other words, Dave Roberts is going to learn much, much more about his expensive right-hander at some point soon.

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