Trevor Bauer Talked Out of Drug, Sex References in Salary; To Donate $69,420.69

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer is using his unique arbitration case to help charitable causes.

Per Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan, Bauer crafted a plan that would allow him to make the salary he wanted to earn and give up the rest through a series of donations over the course of 69 days:

Bauer, who will donate a total of $98,027.61 to charity in 2018, announced his first donation to the Lone Survivor Foundation on Wednesday, along with an accompanying video on Twitter to explain the process:

When Bauer filed for arbitration in the offseason, he settled on a salary request of $6.525 million for 2018. Cleveland countered with a proposal of $5.3 million. The three-judge panel ruled in Bauer's favor in February.

Passan noted Bauer initially wanted to file for $6.9 million, but the right-hander was told that figure was too high and "risked him losing his case."

Entering his fifth full MLB season, Bauer will look to lead the Indians to their third straight AL Central title. The 27-year-old had a career-high 196 strikeouts with a 4.19 ERA in 176.1 innings last season.