The Atlanta Braves have reportedly signed outfielder Yasiel Puig to a one year deal pending a physical. Financial terms are unknown at this time.
Puig, 29, played the first six years of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers before splitting the 2019 season between the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians driving in a career high 84 runs. While enormously talented, the Cuban born Puig, who made the NL All Star Team in 2014, has a volatile personality and has been inconsistent on the field particularly with respect to his base running and defense.
However, Nick Markakis opted out of the playing the 2020 season last week after several members of the team tested positive for COVID-19 including star first baseman Freddie Freeman. So there was a need to fill that gap and Puig was still available on the free agent market. Puig, who was runner up in NL Rookie of the Year balloting in 2013 behind the late Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins, enters 2020 with a .277 lifetime batting average with 132 HR and 415 RBI along with 834 hits in 861 games played.
Now it's quite possible Puig will never don a Braves uniform. Of course, given the problems with testing, it is entirely possible that MLB and the MLBPA could come to their senses and cancel the season. Then again how can we trust baseball players and owners any more than we can trust President Trump and various state governors? Baseball, like America, has survived the idiots who run it but now I'm not so sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment