A new Yasiel Puig giving Los Angeles Dodgers what they’re looking for - Los Angeles - Dodgers Report- ESPN

Since his promotion, after rosters had expanded in September, Puig has been a changed man. He has not been 2013 rookie Puig—not even close—but he has established himself as a possible solution for the lefty issue, and he now looks like he will be of use on a potential playoff roster when a month ago the odds of that happening seemed Powerball-sized.

“I’m just very thankful for the opportunity to just return to the team,” Puig said, when asked if his goal upon his return was to make the playoff roster. “It’s up to them now if they’re going to put me on the playoff roster, but I’m just trying to work hard and trying to get to the end of the season, to the playoffs and give my best for this year and the next.”

Madison Bumgarner, Yasiel Puig and another epic bullpen meltdown

The chain of events:

After Puig grounded out to end the seventh, Bumgarner clearly mouthed, “Don’t look at me,” in Puig’s direction a couple times, with an added expletive in there the third time he said it. The camera panned to Puig saying, “What?” Let’s admit it: A fight makes every sporting event a little more entertaining, not just hockey. While this one didn’t see more than some pushing and shoving, it was entertaining to see all the relievers rushing in from the bullpens:

Everyone loves to criticize Puig for not containing his emotions, but what about Bumgarner? He clearly doesn’t like Puig—see this from May of 2014 or this from September of that year—but it’s not fair to criticize Puig for some of his antics and leave Bumgarner untouched just because he’s a good ol’ boy from North Carolina. Bochy removed him after the incident, and maybe he stays in the game if he keeps his cool.

Yasiel Puig of Los Angeles Dodgers meets with fan who lost tooth via ball toss

So this does happen.

Yasiel Puig has met with the Los Angeles Dodgers fan whose front tooth was knocked out when the outfielder tossed a ball into the stands at Yankee Stadium as a souvenir.

Alyssa Gerharter also came away with a busted lip from Puig’s throw, which followed the final out of a Dodgers win Monday night in the opener of a three-game set in the Bronx.

Puig made amends with Gerharter and tweeted a photo of the meeting Wednesday.

For Brewers, Dodgers, clock hasn’t run out on Ryan Braun-Yasiel Puig trade

Braun and Puig were about 20 minutes from being traded to the Dodgers two weeks ago, according to several executives with direct knowledge of their trade talks, but the teams ran out of time at the Aug. 31 trade deadline.

The executives spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the talks.

Braun was being traded to the Dodgers, who would pay the entire $76 million in his contract, for outfielder Yasiel Puig, injured veteran pitcher Brandon McCarthy and prospects.

Negotiations lasted all the way to the 11:59 p.m. ET waivers trade deadline on Aug. 31. Officials vowed to revisit the talks again this winter.

The clubs even worked out the major stumbling blocks of the deal so that it would have been a virtual money wash this season. McCarthy and Puig are earning a combined $16.5 million while Braun is being paid $19 million.

The deal was so close, with just one last prospect being negotiated, that Braun was advised to stay around until the deadline expired. Several of his teammates even stayed with him in the clubhouse, prepared to say their goodbyes.

Dodgers place Triple-A Superstar Yasiel Puig on trade waivers

Will anyone take a chance on The Wild Horse?

Heyman: Dodgers not desperate to trade Puig

The Los Angeles Dodgers have gauged interest in Yasiel Puig, but executives with interested teams say the Dodgers don’t appear desperate to trade Puig, and in fact have rebuffed offers.

Teams appear to be bottom feeding for Puig in the hopes that the Dodgers want to give him away, and while the Dodgers don’t seem anxious or even interested in calling him up to the major-league team, the impression rival executives have is that the Dodgers are clearly not of a mind to give him away.

While a Dodgers-connected person labeled it “doubtful” he’d appear with the Dodgers’ major-league team again this year, the Dodgers remain cognizant of his youth and extraordinary talent, which if anything has been re-affirmed in his brief stay so far with Triple-A Oklahoma City, where Puig has a slash line of .419/.479/.721.

Yasiel Puig Earning Promotion On The Field But Is It Enough

In 12 games at Triple-A through Aug. 21, Puig is hitting .419 with three homers, 11 RBI and a 1.200 OPS. Clearly, minor league pitching is no match for him. The issue is, we don’t know if he can take whatever zone he’s in at Oklahoma City and transfer it to big league pitchers who have a very simple book on how to get him out. We don’t know — and this is the front office’s worry — if he will put in the work to make the necessary adjustments at the big league level.

Yasiel Puig loving the topless, F-bomb party at Triple-A

Yasiel Puig really is the gift that keeps on giving.  As is the New York Post, a newspaper that really does know how to make a big deal about not so much.

Yasiel Puig, expected to make triple-A debut Sunday, still hasn’t reported to Oklahoma City - LA Times

The Dodgers want Puig to get into a work routine before games, a team official said. That could be complicated by the working conditions here. Oklahoma City is in a stretch of playing 53 games in 54 days, and the summer heat often compels the team to cancel batting practice on the field.

All the debates about Puig have gotten a reality check. | Sports on Earth

All of us who have played baseball competitively know that some players are more difficult to play with than others. Our willingness to tolerate the more difficult personalities is balanced by how well the player performs and how much of an effort we see him putting into playing well. If the player is killing it on the field and helping our team win, we’ll tolerate much more of all the other stuff. If the player’s performance, however, isn’t what we expect, it doesn’t take very long to see him gone. This is the way it works in the major leagues too.

Puig is clearly not performing as well as people expect, especially based on his initial seasons. From all accounts, including this report, he is a royal pain in the ass and doesn’t work particularly hard. That’s why his back in AAA.

All our thoughts about Puig representing some new strain of baseball, a direction toward the future, they all got smothered by the unfortunate reality that baseball is an incredibly hard game to play on a day-to-day basis. It requires routine, and patience, and calm, and discipline, all of those things that Puig has so far lacked. Even if his attitude has changed this year from what was supposedly so offensive about it in the past—and by most accounts, it has—it hasn’t been enough, because the game always wins. If Puig still had a .925 OPS, he wouldn’t be sent down to Oklahoma City or traded, but the argument McCullough makes is a convincing one: The way Puig trains and works, he was never going to have a .925 OPS, or at least stay healthy enough to make it work, not again. He would just keep breaking down, unable to handle that inside fastball. The sad part about the Dodgers sending Puig down is that even the old scolds like myself can’t make much of an argument against it.

Dodgers Dysfunction: Selling Low On Yasiel Puig Is Malpractice (UPDATE) - Forbes

How can the writer make this claim? He can have his own opinion of what he things about Puig but he has no idea of the opinion of GMs. FYI, a player’s reputation has an impact on his value. This is particularly true when the player is not playing well.

But I am not willing to stipulate that Puig has lost all his trade value. This business of comparing a player with his former self only goes so far, and it’s intellectually lazy. Puig, right now, today, is a considerably better player than Scott Van Slyke. He’s a better hitter, he’s a better outfielder, he’s a better base runner, he’s just plain better. There’s a joke making the rounds that SVS’s famously loose-lipped father, leaked the fake report to Mr. Rosenthal. It’s a good joke, and it gives one pause.

Yasiel Puig’s time with Los Angeles Dodgers always seemed destined to end badly - LA Times

Hernandez’s zinger could have been worse. He could have compared Zaidi to LA Times sports columnists. Those guys, phew, they aren’t that bright.

While Zaidi was speaking, Fox Sports posted a story online about how Puig departed Dodger Stadium in a huff after being told he would be traded or demoted.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” Zaidi said. “We have an off day today. Anything further, we’ll address and comment on tomorrow.”

Zaidi has a doctorate in behavioral economics from the University of California. He is smarter than most of the numbers crunchers in the game who use their affinity for analytics to masquerade as intellectuals.

Dodgers leave Yasiel Puig behind as they head to Colorado | FOX Sports

UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal updated his piece and apologized for getting the report wrong later last night.

Puig’s agent, Adam Katz, and Dodgers officials said that my initial report — that Puig stormed off after arriving at Dodger Stadium and being given the news — was inaccurate.

“I’m told he never went to the park,” Katz said. “The club informed me and the player understood clearly that they were making every effort to trade him and that if they were unable to come to terms with another club on a trade — and successful in acquiring another outfielder — that he likely would be demoted. My understanding is that transaction will happen tomorrow.”

—————-
This doesn’t sound good.

Yasiel Puig did not travel with the Dodgers on Monday when they flew to Denver for a three-game series against the Rockies.

Puig, 25, stormed off after arriving at Dodger Stadium and being informed that he would either be traded or sent to the minors, according to major-league sources.

He was not traded before the non-waiver deadline at 4 p.m. ET, but the team’s immediate plan for him is unclear.

Club officials declined comment.

MLB warned Yasiel Puig and threatened him with a fine over Vin Scully cleats - CBSSports.com

Puig has worn cleats with American and Cuban flag themes earlier this season as well, but apparently Scully’s face is where MLB draws the line. MLB has threatened Puig with a $5,000 fine if he wears them again. From Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:

But after he wore cleats during a game in Arizona eight days ago that had Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully’s face painted on them Puig received a letter from Major League Baseball warning him that he would be subject to a $5,000 fine if he wore them again.

The letter from Joe Garagiola Jr., MLB’s senior vice president of standards and on-field operations, advised Puig that the cleats did not conform to MLB’s uniform rules.
Well that’s no fun. It’s not like the cleats are offensive or anything. Oh well. I guess MLB has uniform codes and sponsors to satisfy and whatnot.

Sources: Dodgers are open to trading struggling Yasiel Puig | FOX Sports

It’s easy to forget how young he still is.

Perhaps the Dodgers will keep Puig, buying into his latest surge and banking on the fact that he is only 25. Or perhaps they finally are at wit’s end with his performance if not his personality, and will try to sell relatively high, assuming Puig does not regress in the next two weeks.

Yasiel Puig crashed a high school prom after game in Colorado

Only to be thrown out by that stuffy Dean! I’LL GET YOU PUIG!

Los Angeles Dodgers star Yasiel Puig had a little time to kill on Saturday night after Kenta Maeda and company made short work of the Colorado Rockies. So he decided he would surprise some Denver area high school students by crashing their prom party.

True story.

Puig shocked the students from Chatfield High School in Littleton, Colo.— which is a suburb of Denver — a little before midnight. He even posed for pictures with the students to commemorate the occasion, which will someday validate some prom stories that no one else would believe otherwise.

Chatfield Senior High Baseball Team pic.twitter.com/MSuiRhGzu5

— Yasiel Puig (@YasielPuig) April 24, 2016

Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig makes incredible throw | MLB.com

Too bad he missed the cutoff man.