Trevor Bauer accuses Indians of ‘character assassination’ during arbitration hearing

All-Star pitcher Trevor Bauer won his salary arbitration hearing with the Cleveland Indians this week, getting a $7-million raise over last year, but said Thursday he’s unhappy with the way he was treated toward the end of the process.

“They spent the last 10 minutes of the case trying a character assassination,” Bauer told USA Today.

“It kind of put a black mark on what I thought was a really well-argued case on both sides. There’s not room for that. Let’s just stick to the numbers. Let the numbers tell the story.”

This is the second straight year Bauer has won an arbitration case with the Indians. Last year, the Indians offered $5.3 million and he got $6.525 million; this time, the team offered $11 million and he was awarded $13 million.

But in the process, Bauer said, the team’s lawyers informed the arbitrators “basically that I’m a terrible human being.”

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In the end, though, Bauer feels the strategy backfired on the organization.

“I think they put on a better case this year, overall, until the last 10 minutes,” Bauer said. “Who knows what exactly swayed their decision, but I don’t think it helped their cause.”

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Twitter: @chewkiii