Julio Urías' situation seems to be reaching Trevor Bauer heights as Dodgers move on

Any Los Angeles Dodgers fan holding out hope for a Julio Urías return can start letting that go, because it's now more evident than ever that his case is starting to mirror the lengthiness of Trevor Bauer's from 2021-2023.

Urías was arrested in September on suspicion of felony domestic violence, was placed on administrative leave, and hasn't been heard from since. There have been few updates and there's been widespread assumption we may never see him in MLB again.

At this point, while we can't guarantee that will be the case, we can at least assume he'll never be a Dodger again. The team canceled his bobblehead night, removed him from the 2020 World Series mural, and has since moved on by investing $700 million in Shohei Ohtani.

On top of that, MLB insider Ken Rosenthal flat out said he's not coming back to LA. As for his return to baseball in general? That's starting to look dicey because his legal situation is being dragged out much like Bauer's.

It's now in the hands of the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office to determine if charges will be levied against Urías. Remember how long that took for Bauer? And then remember how long it took for MLB to arrive at a conclusion after that?

Julio Urías' situation seems to be reaching Trevor Bauer heights as Dodgers move on

The ESPN story says there is no timeline on the DA Office's decision and, as noted during Bauer's process, it's been said cases involving higher-profile individuals are handled with greater deliberation. Not to mention, the league is conducting an independent investigation and cannot interview Urías until the legal side of things concludes.

Widely expected to headline this year's class of free agent pitchers before his arrest (and Blake Snell's meteoric rise to Cy Young winner), Urías was entering his age-27 season in 2024 and ready for a massive payday thanks to his performance from 2020-2022. He slipped up a bit in 2023 because of injuries, but that wasn't expected to impact his market significantly.

Now that this is his second run-in with a domestic violence issue (the other came in 2019 and saw him suspended by MLB despite never being charged), it's assumed the league will be more harsh with the punishment handed down given how they've handed recent cases (Bauer received the longest non-lifetime ban in baseball history).

This slow developing situation has more than likely influenced the Dodgers' aggression in going after Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who could land a contract in the $300 million range. But outside of the personnel perspective, the Dodgers have had far too many players (Bauer, Urías, Yasiel Puig, Alex Verdugo) involved in troubling off-field incidents, and that trend must cease.