We call these SLAPP suits. They aren’t designed to actually win, they’re designed so that they make the people who are sued show up in the press, sometimes they have to pay their legal fees if they aren’t included in the costs of the dismissal which is common, but compared to the millions of dollars a Clevinger can afford for lawyers a battered former partner can’t afford anything like that even on a temporary basis so they’re likely to retract their statements even if they’re accurate just because of money. This type of lawsuit threat is a very standard thing for a guilty party who is trying to intimidate someone.
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1019/slapp-suits
Even the concept of this is why he should be on administrative leave. There is literally zero benefit and a ton of loss for MLB and for the White Sox In this playing out in public. This should be a private matter regardless of the outcome and no one comes out of this looking good. The end result of this is MLB having people associate them more with domestic assault and intimidation, regardless of what actually happened. This will cost millions long term at minimum For the White Sox and the MLB, but if Clevinger intimidates her into shutting up it’s worth millions to him.
Just put him on leave and let me be bored with spring training fluff. A new manager handling this for weeks? Good luck.