Opening Day is less than a month away. Yasiel Puig still doesn’t have a home. Doesn’t that sound crazy? Sure, his effort has always been a question mark, but the talent shouldn’t be. This is still Yasiel Puig, right? The more time goes along, the more it becomes a serious question. Will anybody sign Yasiel Puig? Time is running out.
Maybe it takes a camp injury for the noise to pick up. Puig hasn’t been a star all the time, but this is a good player. Across 7 major league seasons, Puig has a battling line of .277/.348/.475 with an OPS+ of 122 and 132 homers. In 49 games with Cleveland to end the season, he hit .297. Isn’t that worth something? Nobody is willing to offer that guy a minor league contract at minimum?
It’s hard to find a landing spot. The Angels make a lot of sense after failing to trade for Joc Pederson. Outside of that, most teams have a young guy stashed in the minors they want to test out. Then there are rebuilding teams that Puig makes no sense on at all. There isn’t an easy answer unless more injuries start to pile up. It would be funny to see him in Yankee Stadium if the Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton injuries start to linger.
What if this is the end for Yasiel Puig? It doesn’t feel too long ago he was torching the Majors as a rookie. This is a player that was getting MVP votes as a 22 and 23-year old. Puig, 29, should still have plenty of juice left in the tank. Now he’s thought of as a goof who makes odd mistakes in the outfield and licks bats. It’s a story that should have progressed a lot better than it ultimately did.
