Puig-Mania Thread

[caulfield12]

Who's the next face of baseball?

 

SportsNation Rankings

 

1.Mike Trout

 

2.Bryce Harper

 

3.Buster Posey

 

4.Yasiel Puig

 

5.Manny Machado

 

6.Matt Harvey

 

7.Yu Darvish

 

8.Giancarlo Stanton

 

9.Aroldis Chapman

 

10.Chris Sale

 

Points

 

14,587

 

12,827

 

10,971

 

9,787

 

9,014

 

8,758

 

7,276

 

6,218

 

5,266

 

4,159

 

#1 Votes

 

791

 

260

 

191

 

172

 

116

 

53

 

34

 

16

 

18

 

9

 

By The Hater (not to be confused with He Hate Me) ajc.com

 

Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig is exciting. He rakes, runs and isn't shy about showing everyone how much fun he's having out there. Puig is a showman and a showboat. He's young, talented and plays with flair, so he's getting a lot of attention barely more than a month after he broke into the Big Leagues.

 

So of course baseball hates him.

 

The Braves are butthurt because ESPN is encouraging fans to vote for Puig to get the final NL All-Star spot while they think teammate Freddie Freeman deserves it more. Well, that's because ESPN is in the entertainment business and knows that Puig moves the needle more than Freeman. More non-fans and casual fans of baseball already know more about Puig than Freeman and they like what they see.

But that kind of thinking doesn't sit well with baseball people, who regularly shun what's entertaining and popular for what's right. You see, Puig needs to “respect the game” and not “show anybody up.” He's a rookie who needs to just play baseball and keep his head down. Drawing attention to himself is a serious crime in baseball punishable by tsk-tsking from players and their allies in baseball media.

 

Note Dan Bickley'shilariously tight-arsed column on Puig for azcentral.com. Bickley takes issue with Puig for having the nerve to ignore D-Backs coach Luis Gonzalez before a recent game.

 

Bickley notes with satisfaction that Dodgers coach Mark McGwire, the roided-out baseball purist, “jumped Puig pretty good.” Bickley says Puig doesn't have enough “respect for his predecessors,” which is another serious crime in baseball.

 

Bickley didn't mention that Dodgers pitcher Ian Kennedydrilled Puig in the head with a pitch earlier in the season, starting a chain of events that led to a brawl between the bitter rivals. But Bickley must think Puig still should warmly embrace Gonzalez to show "respect for his predecessor."

 

Of course, Bickley and his ilk probably things Puig deserves to get beaned for being too exciting and fun.

 

No wonder kids would rather watch "60 Minutes" than baseball. That show takes itself less seriously.

Edited July 12, 2013 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Still, this feels like a missed opportunity for baseball to capitalize on the sudden burst of popularity for Puig, one of the game’s most electrifying young players. He didn’t make his major-league debut until June 3 but he then collected more hits in his first month than any player since Joe DiMaggio in 1936, and became the first player in the 56-year history of the award to win Player of the Month honors in his first month in the majors. So far, he’s gotten hits in 30 of 35 games, and is batting .394/.428/.634 with eight homers in 152 plate appearances. Puig has also helped Los Angeles turn its season around and probably saved manager Don Mattingly’s job in the process. The Dodgers were eight games below .500 when he debuted, and 12 games below .500 through June 21, but since then they’ve gone 15-3 and clawed their way back to .500 at 45-45, and within 1 1/2 games of first place in the NL West.

 

Even with his late start, Puig’s 2.6 Wins Above Replacement ranks just 0.1 behind Freeman, who has played in more than twice as many games. It’s also ninth among NL outfielders despite the fact that Puig didn’t debut until the season was two months old. According to an MLB report, Puig is also 10th in the majors in jersey sales, on a list that includes Buster Posey, Mariano Rivera, Yadier Molina, David Wright, Matt Harvey, Bryce Harper, Derek Jeter, Manny Machado and Mike Trout. Freeman isn’t even in the top 20.

 

Puig’s late start was viewed as a point against him by NL manager Bruce Bochy and by vocal critics such as Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon, who won’t be part of Tuesday’s festivities either. The 22-year-old Cuban defector’s aggressive style of play has occasionally rankled opponents, particularly the Diamondbacks, whose Ian Kennedy hit him in the face with a pitch on June 11, setting the stage for a bench-clearing brawl later in the game. During L.A.’s three-game sweep of Arizona this week, Arizona catcher Miguel Montero — who was in the midst of that brawl — ripped Puig on Wednesday, saying among other things, “He’s creating a bad reputation around the league.”

 

Despite the brevity of Puig’s career, I’ve spent the past few weeks arguing in this space and elsewhere that he was a defensible choice for the All-Star Game given its dual roles as an exhibition for the people and a competitive means of deciding homefield advantage in the World Series. A sizable contingent of fans — though apparently not a plurality — wanted to see him there, and there’s little doubt that he could have helped the NL’s chances at winning, even in a bench role. One swing of the bat, trip around the bases, or throw of his could change a game. Freeman may provide some power off the bench, but he’s nowhere near as complete a player as Puig, nor is he as dynamic a presence. Insistence that he’s “paid his dues” while Puig has not is the kind of traditional thinking that players may care about but fans don’t. What’s more, with the television ratings continuing to decline in the wake of attaching homefield advantage to the process, it can be argued that MLB should be emphasizing fresh faces in this context.

 

There’s still a slight possibility Puig could make the cut if another player opts out due to injury. Bochy could choose him as an injury replacement for either a fan-elected starter or for one of his own previous choices. The Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez, who was elected to the starting lineup, pulled out of the Home Run Derby because of a hand injury, though it isn’t yet known if he’ll recuse himself from the All-Star Game as well. If a participant elected via the player vote opts out, the replacement is based upon vote totals from that process.

 

http://www.cnnsi.com

 

 

I was eager to get my first in-person look at Yasiel Puig Sunday.

 

I saw Magic Johnson play his first NBA game, saw LeBron James play his. Puig has been giving off the same kind of superstar vibe since being called up to the majors, and Sunday was my first up-close look.

 

I was not disappointed. Puig hit, fielded, ran the bases (out of control), scored the winning run, yapped at two or three Giants.

 

Afterwards, he and teammate Juan Uribe got into an argument over Puig’s treatment of the media. Dull moments with Yasiel Puig: Zero.

 

You can read my take in my column in Monday’s Chronicle. I’m sure Giants’ fans would love for me to blast this kid as a spoiled hot-dog rookie, but I see him blowing into the big leagues like a breath of fresh air.

 

Is he Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Barry Bonds, Bo Jackson? Nah, I wouldn’t make any of those comparisons. Puig’s an original, and he probably won’t continue to hit .400 the entire season, but he will be a force.

 

Great talent, great dramatic flair, great for the game. I call him a six-tool superstar.

 

 

 

Puig looks to be part of rivalry for years to come

By Scott Ostler

 

 

Yasiel Puig is the wild kid at the birthday party. Scaring the other kids. Unnerving the adults.

 

If he's your kid, he is wonderfully exuberant and high-spirited. If he's not your kid, he's out of control.

 

On Sunday, the Yasiel Puigs beat the Giants 4-1. The rivalry between the Giants and the Yasiel Puigs (formerly the Dodgers, until renamed by Henry Schulman) is back on, brother, but don't expect it to burn as hot as it burned Sunday. That type of intensity can last only another 10 to 15 years, or as long as the Puigster wears the dreaded blue.

 

Make no mistake, it's Señor Puig who has reignited this rivalry, with strong supporting help from teammate Hanley Ramirez and the Giants' theatrical closer, Sergio Romo.

 

Everything Puig does is on a heroic level, even when he's being a weenie.

 

On Saturday, Puig blew off the media before the game, went 0-for-4 with four whiffs and refused to talk after the game. So on Sunday morning, Dodgers general manager Ned Coletti and the team's Spanish-language broadcaster, Jaime Jarrin, met with Puig and explained that dealing with the media is part of his duties, win or lose.

 

After Sunday's game, in which Puig played a leading role, a handful of media folks headed to his locker, where he sat icing and texting, his back to the room.

 

Finally, teammate Juan Uribe asked Puig if he was going to talk.

 

"Nobody's asking anything," Puig retorted, though he had yet to face the media or look up from his phone.

 

Uribe, big brother setting little brother straight, loudly told Puig (in Spanish), "You have to stand up! If you're not going to talk to them, let them know right now!"

 

Puig stood and performed his media duties.

 

Puig is a bit immature and undisciplined, and it takes a village to educate him, and everyone got in on that act over the weekend, from manager Don Mattingly to Uribe.

 

Here are Sunday's Puig highlights:

 

-- He led off the fourth with a hard single to center, stole second and, with one out, tried to steal third, even though the hot-hot-hot Ramirez was at bat. Guillermo Quiroz gunned down Puig. In the dugout, Puig's teammates and first-base coach Davey Lopes lectured the rookie on careless, mindless running.

 

"No, that wasn't designed" for Puig to run, Mattingly said. "That was pretty much on his own. ... We don't want him going there. It's really part of Yasiel, what we're going through. ... We like his aggressiveness and just want it to be at the right time."

 

-- Quiroz led off the eighth and sliced a shot to right-center that Puig turned into an out with a sprint and Superman-style diving catch. Pure robbery.

 

-- With the score 1-1, Puig led off the ninth with a hard single to left off Romo. The day before, Romo struck out Puig with a slider, after which a teammate took Puig into the video room and gave him a tutorial on the Romo slider. On Sunday, the lesson paid off.

 

On that single, Puig put a cherry on his Sunday sundae by flipping his bat. Not many guys pimp their singles. Puig then hustled (smartly, this time) to third on Buster Posey's throwing error. A three-run rally was born, ignited by Puig, who Friday night kicked off a game-busting six-run rally with a double.

 

So although he had a 3-for-14 series, with seven strikeouts, Puig played a huge role in the Yasiel Puigs taking two out of three.

 

As Puig crossed home plate Sunday in the ninth with the go-ahead run, he had words with catcher Quiroz, and then with Romo.

 

The byplay between Romo and Ramirez goes back to last season, and involves a mutual dis-admiration of the other man's theatrics. Now Puig has insinuated himself in the middle of that theatrical animosity, although he played it off after the game.

 

"No, there weren't any bad words spoken," Puig said through interpreter Tim Bravo.

 

Puig said he knows that if the Dodgers are going to get to the playoffs, they're going to have to go through San Francisco.

 

I asked Puig if he is learning to hate the Giants.

 

"He said he likes the rivalry," Bravo said. "He likes the competition, he likes the emotion and the excitement, with the players and everybody getting excited. ... It's more emotional for the fans, they see everybody getting excited and it's a better game for everybody."

 

That's a young man aware of what's happening. Puig has been called a five-tool player, but he's got six, if you count his strong theatrical instincts. The young Cubano can do Shakespeare.

 

You Giants fans who dislike Puig already, just be patient, wait him out. He'll be gone in 15 years or so. This kid isn't leaving the party early.

 

Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @scottostler

Edited July 12, 2013 by caulfield12

[Chicago White Sox]

Caulfield, you honestly need to ease onto an easier drug like meth, because Puig is starting to take control of your life. You're literally just using this thread to collect random Puig articles like Pokemon. At some point, if people aren't responding to you, you can't force conversation by simply posting more articles.

[caulfield12]

Caulfield, you honestly need to ease onto an easier drug like meth, because Puig is starting to take control of your life. You're literally just using this thread to collect random Puig articles like Pokemon. At some point, if people aren't responding to you, you can't force conversation by simply posting more articles.

 

 

Haha, but I can.

 

Actually, the Dodgers are fun for three reasons: 1) Juan Uribe 2) Listening to Vin Scully 3) Puig

 

Uribe was the glue that held the infield together, and the most well-liked member of the White Sox clubhouse. He still has the softest pair on hands in the majors.

 

And Scully reminds me of everything the White Sox don't have in their broadcasting both.

 

That said, I will always be a Sox fan first...but the Dodgers are quickly becoming my NL team, shifting from the Cardinals.

Edited July 12, 2013 by caulfield12

[witesoxfan]

Clayton Kershaw has an ERA of 2.28 over his last 600 innings and is set to win his 2nd Cy Young and 3rd straight top 2 finish, but no, you're right, Juan Uribe.

[caulfield12]

Clayton Kershaw has an ERA of 2.28 over his last 600 innings and is set to win his 2nd Cy Young and 3rd straight top 2 finish, but no, you're right, Juan Uribe.

 

 

Did someone ask for my thoughts on every player on the roster?

 

C'mon.

 

He was one of my favorite players on the White Sox...and I still enjoy watching him because he enjoys playing the game of baseball and is having a comeback/resurgent season this year.

 

Dare I go with the "we must love every single player on the 2005 roster" explanation?

 

 

Same way that Viciedo and Hector Santiago have been my two favorite players the last 2-3 years. It's human nature. Balta had Morel and Dylan Axelrod, players he was rooting for until it became tough to defend them any longer.

 

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/yasiel-puig-b...-023405201.html

 

Tim Brown PUIG Backlash attempts to turn prodigy into punk in premature rush to judgement

[caulfield12]

 

Thanks in part to an odd alliance in which the Blue Jays’ and Braves’ fan bases submitted votes for each other’s candidates, Toronto reliever Steve Delabar and Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman have won the 2013 All-Star Game Final Vote and will be added to the rosters of their respective leagues for next Tuesday’s contest. Just as notable as who won, however, is who didn’t: Dodgers rookie sensation Yasiel Puig, whose brief stint in the majors has led to a weeks-long debate about the merits of his All-Star worthiness, finished second in the NL vote and now, barring an unforeseen development, will not take part in the Midsummer Classic.

 

Freeman collected a record 19.7 million votes to finish ahead of Puig, who got more votes than any player in Final Vote history except for Freeman. The 23-year-old Braves first baseman, who is in his third full major-league season, is off to the best start of his young career, hitting .307/.388/.470 with nine homers. Those numbers, which have helped propel Atlanta into first place in the NL East, make him a reasonable if not clear-cut choice for his first All-Star team.

 

Still, this feels like a missed opportunity for baseball to capitalize on the sudden burst of popularity for Puig...

 

Gee, you think? Frankly, this is a stunning failure by Major League Baseball. Just utterly stunning. A short list of the most exciting young players of the last 40-odd years includes Fred Lynn, Mark Fidrych, Fernando Valenzuela, Dwight Gooden, Bo Jackson, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and ... Yasiel Puig. Some of those players were All-Stars as rookies, and some weren't. But few played as well as rookies as Puig has.

 

Of course, most played a lot more as rookies. As I've said, there's essentially no precedent at all for an All-Star like Yasiel Puig, which is a fine defense if Major League Baseball feels compelled to mount a defense.

 

Sometimes precedent doesn't convince me. It seems to me there's something wrong with a process that includes the fans and the players and the managers and the Commissioner's Office ... and still doesn't allow for the inclusion of the Most Exciting Player who also happens to be hitting .400.

 

Let's ask The Fundamental Question: If we weren't already doing it this way, is this how we would do it?

 

Of course not. The current system is a Frankenstein monster, an admixture of measures designed to satisfy an ever-growing number of constituencies. Unfortunately, Baseball has neither the will nor the ability to start all over. So in the absence of a revolution, let me instead suggest adding yet another stray body part to our monster ...

 

This isn't actually my idea. This is my friend Rob Nelson's idea. He has lots of good ideas (here's one example). This particular good idea, though, is a special "phenom" category for the All-Star Game. I don't know that I would restrict the category to rookies ... Maybe any player who's 24 or younger and hasn't been an All-Star before? More to the point, I would let the Commissioner's Office make the choices, with input from the managers and ... wait for it ... Major League Baseball's publicity people. This year, that would mean Yasiel Puig and probably Jose Iglesias (S. Marte, Gattis, Segura, Shelby Miller, etc.).

 

But maybe there aren't two guys like that every year? Then the Commissioner's Office should just hold a couple of slots every year; if there's nobody like Puig and Iglesias who gets everybody excited, the slots can simply be handed back to the managers.

 

The problem with the current process is that, in trying to satisfy everyone, MLB has left itself little room to accomplish a truly worthy goal: making the All-Star Game compelling to casual baseball fans. Theoretically, the Final Vote was supposed to do that. But when the process gives you Freddie Freeman and Steve Delabar -- to be sure, both of them fine baseball players -- then you know the process has failed. Utterly.

 

www.baseballnation.com

[Kyyle23]

Thanks in part to an odd alliance in which the Blue Jays’ and Braves’ fan bases submitted votes for each other’s candidates, Toronto reliever Steve Delabar and Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman have won the 2013 All-Star Game Final Vote and will be added to the rosters of their respective leagues for next Tuesday’s contest.

 

 

The Sox did the same thing in the past, I believe with the Punch AJ promotion and with trying to get Podsednik in the AS game

[southsider2k5]

The Sox did the same thing in the past, I believe with the Punch AJ promotion and with trying to get Podsednik in the AS game

 

yeah that was even happening with message boards promising to vote for a candidate if they would vote for the other's.

[caulfield12]

http://deadspin.com/espn-reports-some-stup...-puig-749042942

 

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/07/yasiel-pui...s-to-criticism/

"You just hate the guy. You want to crush him." Miguel Montero pontificating for over 2 minutes about Puig's behavior.

 

 

Now we're getting SILLY when ESPN is reporting these types of stories. And USA TODAY? WHAT? You'd think he was Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton or John F. Kennedy.

 

 

According to a report on ESPN, Yasiel Puig’s interpreter was “reprimanded by stadium security” for trying to help the Cuban sensation meet women. Deadspin has the video. Here’s a transcript of Pedro Gomez’s report:

 

Puig’s interpreter was reprimanded by stadium security for trying to get a woman’s phone number for Puig. Not the first such occurrence, a source told ESPN.

And on Monday, five-time All-Star Luis Gonzalez approached Puig to introduce himself. Puig didn’t even acknowledge his presence until hitting coach Mark McGwire barked that Gonzalez had won a World Series with a game-winning hit off Mariano Rivera, and he deserved respect. Puig then barely feigned a hello.

 

I don’t want to speak for any other media outlets or tell anyone what to do here, so I’ll speak for myself: Over the past month, I have spilled thousands of words heralding Puig’s awesomeness on this website. And because I have contributed to the now overwhelming hype around Yasiel Puig in some small way, I am in no position to criticize him when he acts like a big shot. I’ve helped make him a big shot, though obviously not as much as his batting average has.

 

Puig, we know, has been through a heck of a lot over the past year and a half. He seems like a pretty private guy who doesn’t love the attention, and it’s impossible to say any of us would behave any differently in the same circumstances.

 

Who knows what Puig had to do to leave Cuba, and what he left behind? What’s so wrong with giving him, I don’t know, two months to adjust to life in the big-league spotlight before we start taking shots at his character?

 

I’m content to enjoy Puig’s on-field performance without needing to probe too deep into whatever parts of his personal life he doesn’t want to share. There’s nothing actually wrong about his trying to meet women or even — heaven forbid — his crankiness toward Luis Gonzalez. And it’s entirely unclear why his interpreter would have been “reprimanded” for acting as wingman.

 

 

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/07/yasiel-pui...omen-says-espn/

Edited July 12, 2013 by caulfield12

[witesoxfan]

Now we're getting SILLY when ESPN is reporting these types of stories. And USA TODAY? WHAT? You'd think he was Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton or John F. Kennedy.

 

It's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife

[caulfield12]

Dodger rookie Yasiel Puig hasn't had many problems with opposing pitchers since being called up to the major leagues six weeks ago. Dealing with the media, however, has proved another issue.

 

Puig joined teammate Juan Uribe in a heated confrontation with an ESPN reporter Thursday that eventually became so loud, Hanley Ramirez turned the clubhouse stereo all the way up in an effort to keep Spanish-speaking reporters from understanding what the three men were arguing about.

 

Puig has not been shy in talking about his disdain for reporters, which apparently runs so deep the Dodgers media relations staff has adopted a special policy for him. While everyone else on the team can be approached with questions before games, Puig is off-limits.

 

That policy was altered slightly Thursday after Puig finished second in voting for the All-Star Game, with the Dodgers arranging a pregame interview with a small group of journalists. But after a half-dozen questions Puig cut the session short and left the clubhouse for an adjoining room that is closed to the media.

 

"For me, playing baseball is easier than anything else. Because it's what I've done all my life, play baseball," he said in Spanish. "But the press is something new for me. And it's something new and it's difficult because sometimes they put in things that I never said."

 

Manager Don Mattingly, who dealt with a large and aggressive media contingent as a player and coach with the Yankees, said the pressure on Puig has been enormous.

 

"It's everywhere we go, and it's every time he steps his foot in the locker room," Mattingly said. "It's like bam, bam, -bam. He just wants to go play. We have to give him a little bit of a break. We have to look at it a little bit from his side. He's coming from a different country, just gets to the big leagues and it's like 'wow.'

 

"He may like it, the fact that he's playing here. But it's still a lot to deal with. For him, saying, 'I just want to play. I can't play my best baseball when I walk in and have to do stories every day,' I get it."

 

ESPN had reporters following Puig on the Dodgers' recent three-city road trip, and Thursday's confrontation stemmed, in part, from an incident in San Francisco on Sunday when Uribe urged Puig to either speak to reporters or tell them to leave — an exchange reported in several outlets, including The Times.

 

www.latimes.com/sports

 

 

 

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/0...ar-game-debate/

 

 

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/los-ang...tar-team-071113

Nice to see Ken Rosenthal giving lectures about someone having to mature...

 

 

The electorate has done a tremendous favor for Puig and his Los Angeles Dodgers. He’s cooled a little lately — 15 strikeouts and one home run in nine July games — but this isn’t about a statistical regression to the mean. Puig — 22 years old, born and raised in Cuba, with barely more than one month in the majors — is unprepared for the All-Star hype vortex.

 

Puig fascinates many of us in the national media, because of his limitless tools and mysterious backstory. He provides the blend of athleticism and bravado that baseball has lacked in recent years. To the extent that Twitter is a measure of global interest in sports, @NBA’s following more than doubles that of @MLB. Puig is the type of figure who could change that — but only if he’s willing to connect with the public.

 

And right now, he’s not ready.

 

Veteran Dodgers beat reporter Ken Gurnick wrote recently on MLB.com that Puig “has refused virtually all interview requests.” During a series in Phoenix, Puig ignored retired five-time All-Star Luis Gonzalez when the 19-year veteran attempted to engage Puig in friendly conversation about their shared Cuban heritage, according to Dan Bickley of azcentral.com. (Puig provided a different version of the encounter with Gonzalez, telling ESPN’s Max Bretos Thursday that he “thought it went OK” and did say hello.)

 

In a recent story on FOXSportsArizona.com, Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero said Puig is “creating a bad reputation throughout the league,” and Arizona pitcher Ian Kennedy said Puig plays with “arrogance.” (Disclaimer: Diamondbacks players aren’t entirely impartial on Puig and the Dodgers, after last month’s brawl during a game in which Kennedy hit Puig in the nose with a pitch.)

 

None of that makes Puig a bad guy. It does, however, suggest that he’s struggling with the interpersonal aspect of playing baseball, in this country, under the spotlight that follows his current level of performance. Given the state of US-Cuban relations, Puig is not the first major leaguer to have an easier time adjusting competitively than culturally after his defection. The media should be patient with Puig — and has been, in many instances. But his apparent disinterest in the non-playing aspect of the job is mildly concerning.

 

No one should demand that Puig enter the quotability Hall of Fame as a rookie. However, regular cooperation with the media — as a means of promoting the sport — should come standard with a $42 million contract. In fact, that’s spelled out in the collective bargaining agreement that has made Puig a very wealthy man: “It is very important to our game that ALL players are available to the media for reasonable periods and it is the player’s responsibility to cooperate.”

 

If Puig were the 25th man on the Dodgers roster, this would be a non-story. But the reality is that he’s not the 25th man on the Dodgers roster. In some respects, he’s the first. Despite not debuting until June 3, he has the top-selling jersey of any player on the team this year. In fact, he has the 10th most popular jersey in the majors — just behind Mike Trout and ahead of reigning Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera.

 

Marketing executives — with MLB, with the Dodgers, with potential endorsement partners — salivate over that sort of instant star power. For a sport that lacks a superstar persona on the level of LeBron James, this is “New Face of the Game” territory. So if he had been named to the All-Star team, Puig would sit at a table during All-Star Media Day ... and ... uh ... decline comment?

 

In a Spanish interview with MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, Puig said, “I’m not bad, I just don’t like the press and I don’t like the fame.” Puig is entitled to feel that way. If we in the media wanted to be liked, we would have chosen another vocation. But if Puig can’t get along with the Fourth Estate when he’s hitting .394, when, exactly, can we get on his good side?

 

Some will say the language barrier is to blame. That is a factor, but only to a point. Puig has an interpreter, as is common with players from Cuba, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. If he wanted to engage more with other players, fans and media, he would put in the effort. At some point, if he is to maximize his earning and endorsement potential, he will need to do it.

 

In the age of social media, sports icons are increasingly relatable. LeBron’s image has evolved over the past several years, humanizing him to many casual fans and expanding his popularity. Part-time Blue Jays infielder Munenori Kawasaki became an overnight sensation in Toronto after an exuberant, endearing postgame interview in which he earnestly showcased his limited (but expanding) command of English. The clip has been viewed on YouTube more than 2 million times.

 

LeBron James and Munenori Kawasaki (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-VqBI1D980) have almost nothing in common athletically, except that they are making genuine attempts to relate to the public. Eventually, Puig must do the same. And here’s hoping that happens well before the first of what should be many All-Star appearances.

 

 

Jon Paul Morosi, foxsports.com

Edited July 13, 2013 by caulfield12

[Jake]

Puig-mania on hold: Yasi leaves game early with apparent injury

[caulfield12]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/word-going-...on-yasiel-puig/

 

Fangraphs breaks down what has been going on the last two weeks with Puig...

 

I also think there are three issues that weren't addressed:

 

1) His hip injury suffered in Colorado (July 3rd) when he banged into the stanchion/padding really is bothering him...seems like a lingering issue, and has caused him to be pulled from the last two games due to discomfort. Hasn't been able to get it fully loosened up even with therapy and pre-game running. He's only 10 for his last 37 (.270) since hurting his hip, with no homers.

 

2) The 8 home runs came so quickly, but now pitchers are being much more careful with him (especially on first pitches) and he's expanding his strike zone and trying too hard to hit homers and lift/pull the ball instead of taking it to RF. So he's hooking a lot of balls on the ground to the left side.

 

3) Stress/anxiety from all the negative media cover and hype over the All-Star game/final man vote.

 

 

By Dylan Hernandez

July 12, 2013, 11:34 p.m.

The same explosive, high-energy style of play that turned Yasiel Puig into an overnight sensation could be starting to betray him.

 

Puig made a fifth-inning departure from the Dodgers' 3-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium on Friday night, his second early exit in as many days.

 

The Dodgers described Puig's removal as “precautionary,” but acknowledged it was related to the left hip he injured in a collision with the outfield wall in Colorado on July 3.

 

“I feel a lot better, but there are a lot of games left in the season,” Puig said.

 

Puig was uncertain whether he would be able to play today.

 

Less than two weeks ago, Manager Don Mattingly was wondering how he would find enough playing time for four All-Star-caliber outfielders. By the end of Friday's game, Mattingly's outfield was made up of Andre Ethier, recent call-up Scott Van Slyke and utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr. Carl Crawford was a late scratch with stiffness in his lower back. Matt Kemp is on the disabled list for the second time. Now Puig is aching....

Edited July 13, 2013 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...lb&c_id=mlb

[Steve9347]

I would love to see these quotes where players from other teams are calling him out in less than 40 games of his big league debut though?

Dude, Harper was known as an incessant little prick long-before he ever debuted. Of course, he's awesome and has matured, so now he's cool.

[witesoxfan]

Dude, Harper was known as an incessant little prick long-before he ever debuted. Of course, he's awesome and has matured, so now he's cool.

 

That's a clown question, bro

[hammerhead johnson]

36 hours until Puig time, baby. Oooooooooohhhhhhh yeaaaaaaaaah

[LittleHurt05]

I think we found a comp. Both these guys have power arms in the outfield, and look at their numbers after their first 38 games played:

 

Yasel Puig: .391/.422/.616 1.038 OPS

Jeff Francoeur: .350/.372/.664 1.037 OPS

[witesoxfan]

I think we found a comp. Both these guys have power arms in the outfield, and look at their numbers after their first 38 games played:

 

Yasel Puig: .391/.422/.616 1.038 OPS

Jeff Francoeur: .350/.372/.664 1.037 OPS

 

That would suck.

[Kyyle23]

I think Caulfield would have to be put on suicide watch if Puig ended up as a mere Francouer

[caulfield12]

I think Caulfield would have to be put on suicide watch if Puig ended up as a mere Francouer

 

 

Perhaps.

 

Viciedo's struggles throughout this season have already been enough, as is.

[witesoxfan]

Perhaps.

 

Viciedo's struggles throughout this season have already been enough, as is.

 

Puig is better than Viciedo. Better balance plus better plate coverage. He's definitely going to be prone to streaks though.

[caulfield12]

Puig is better than Viciedo. Better balance plus better plate coverage. He's definitely going to be prone to streaks though.

 

 

Viciedo isn't even legitimately hitting for power, of the five tools. Just throwing.

 

Puig has all five, so there's no way to realistically compare the two.

 

Still hoping he can get 15-18 bombs out of this season...and wake up before he becomes a platoon player or is no longer a viable option for the organization.

 

 

 

 

[hammerhead johnson]

Jeff Francouer and hOT fIRE? I thought this was a feel good thread.