Editorials

Trade Yasiel Puig? Don’t Get Burned By The Hot Stove

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Recently, there has been speculation the Los Angeles Dodgers are/should be looking to deal their star outfielder. After another strong season, including his first All-Star appearance, Yasiel Puig is being named as a trade candidate by those who don’t even have the decency to begin their tweets with “Sources:”.



While it’s not surprising that these types of being said at this time of year, fans need to be cautious when navigating articles in the offseason.

How It Works

Once the regular season is over, 20 teams have nothing to do for the next several months. That leads beat writers and columnists alike looking for topics to write about. With every successive postseason elimination comes more mouths to feed, so websites become more and more diluted with angry and eager fan bases, looking for someone to blame and ways to fix their teams for the following season.

Enter Dan Hughes, writer at Sodomojo for FanSided. He authors an article entitled “Dodgers Eliminated From Playoffs Early – Time To Trade Yasiel Puig?” Starts off innocently enough, I suppose. Then Hughes delves into what can only be described as wild speculation based on little more than  ‘Field of Dreams’ nostalgia:

But, it could just be the fantasy of a sportswriter, dreaming of being able to switch his son’s loyalties from the Dodgers to the Mariners, by pilfering his favorite player. Only time will tell.

Call me crazy, but maybe this isn’t the most responsible subject for an article. Hughes suggests that the Mariners COULD (emphasis: his) get Puig for the low-low cost of Brad Miller, Charlie Furbush and Blake Beavan.

Outside of an insanely rosy projection from Fangraphs’ Steamer for Miller, this deal would likely cause Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti to laugh so hard that he accidentally snorts up part of his mustache.

What’s even funnier is he actually asked the well-informed people over at LasordasLair.com what they thought and, surprisingly, they declined the offer. But that didn’t stop Hughes from fantasizing about seeing Puig in Mariners… I want to say green?

So one person writes an article dreaming about the Mariners trading for Puig. No big deal, right? Well, it wouldn’t have been, but then it got picked up by Ryan Gamble at Examiner.com. He pens an article entitled “Yasiel Puig trade rumors: Will Dodgers entertain trade offers for Puig soon?” Again, innocent enough, but everything goes wrong in a hurry.

Gamble states that a “report from Fansided” suggests “now might be the time for another team to swoop in and acquire the troubled outfielder.” Let’s examine what he’s saying here.

First, there was no “report” from Fansided. Why? Because Hughes wasn’t “reporting” anything. He was daydreaming and came up with a preposterous trade in which the Dodgers give up one of the best young outfielders in baseball for a young shortstop who may be good one day, a decent lefty reliever and a 25-year-old starter with a career 4.80 FIP.

Second, and more importantly, Gamble states the Dodgers should trade their “troubled” outfielder. Why is he troubled? Because manager Don Mattingly benched him in the most important game of the season.

Never mind the fact that Puig OPS’d .774 in the NLDS while teammates Dee Gordon, Adrian Gonzalez and Juan Uribe couldn’t crack the Mendoza line; Puig is apparently the “troubled” one. And that’s where the real problem lies.

Next Page: Not Buying Into The Narrative

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Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

2 Comments

  1. Thought it was total bullshit from the beginning….Dodger fans would revolt

  2. God this article is amazing!
    I’ve seriously been dealing with people left and right conspiring about him being optioned to be traded during the off-season. The Dodgers aren’t stupid. They aren’t going to give up someone who’s known as the face of the team and best hitter outside of regular Dodgers fans, as well as one of the best and most hyped outfielders in major league baseball.

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