NEW YORK — Trevor Bauer was released Thursday by the Los Angeles Dodgers after the pitcher’s unprecedented 324-game suspension over sexual misconduct allegations was reduced by an arbitrator.

Los Angeles designated Bauer for assignment on Jan. 6, the last day to restore him to the roster, after arbitrator Martin Scheinman cut the suspension imposed by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred from 324 to 194 games. The Dodgers placed the pitcher on waivers Thursday, and any team can claim Bauer by 1 p.m. Friday.

Bauer is owed about $22.5 million from the remainder of his $102 million, three-year contract, making a waiver claim unlikely. If the 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner is not claimed, any team can sign him after 2 p.m. Friday for the major league minimum of $720,000. The Dodgers would be responsible for the remainder of the $22,537,635 he is owed.

The suspenson has cost Bauer about $37.6 million in salary.

Manfred suspended Bauer last April for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually abused her in 2021. Bauer has maintained he did nothing wrong, saying that everything that happened between him and the woman was consensual.

Bauer was never charged with a crime.

The players’ association filed a grievance on Bauer’s behalf, and a three-man panel headed by Scheinman ruled on Dec. 2. Scheinman concluded that Bauer violated MLB’s policy and docked his pay for the first 50 games of 2023, covering part of the period the pitcher was on paid leave in 2021 and ’22.

Bauer joined his hometown Dodgers before the 2021 season and was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts before being placed on leave.

MARINERS: Outfielder AJ Pollock and the Seattle Mariners finalized a one-year contract, setting up a potential platoon situation in left field for the upcoming season.

The right-handed hitting Pollock will likely be paired with left-handed hitting Jarred Kelenic in a potential position share.

METS: Eric Hinske is joining the New York Mets as assistant hitting coach in Manager Buck Showalter’s staff, Eric Chavez is switching to bench coach and Dom Chiiti is becoming bullpen coach.

Glenn Sherlock is moving from bench coach to catching and strategy coach, and Jeremy Barnes from assistant hitting coach to hitting coach, the team said.

Hinske, a 12-year big league veteran, was hitting coach of the 2018 Los Angeles Angels, when Billy Eppler was general manager. Eppler became the Mets GM in November 2021.

TV: Major League Baseball hired a high-ranking executive from the Sinclair Broadcast Group as the sport deals with concern over the future of regional sports networks in an era of cord-cutting.

Billy Chambers will start with MLB on Feb. 1 in the newly created position of executive vice president for local media, the commissioner’s office said.

Kenny Gersh was promoted by MLB to executive vice president of media and business development from executive vice president of business development, a role he had held since September 2020.

CARDINALS: The Cardinals hired Joe McEwing as their new bench coach to replace longtime star Matt Holliday, who took the job in November but quit to spend more time with his family.

The 50-year-old McEwing, who was originally drafted by the Cardinals in 1992 and played two seasons for St. Louis, has spent the past 15 years with the White Sox, where he served as bench coach from 2017-20 under Rick Renteria and this past season as third base coach for Tony La Russa and acting manager Miguel Cairo.

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