The Los Angeles Dodgers figure to make many headlines this offseason as they face multiple questions coming off another short postseason run.
Among them are who will fill the managerial vacancy and if Zack Greinke will return to Los Angeles after he opts out of his contract, as expected.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman kept matters close to the vest during the press conference in which he and general manager Farhan Zaidi explained the mutual separation with Don Mattingly.
And there’s been little since on the Dodgers’ managerial search. As for Mattingly, he reportedly is set to become the Miami Marlins next manager on a four-year contract.
The former Dodgers skipper joined The Dan Patrick Show and discussed many topics regarding his past and the future, including where Yasiel Puig’s career is:
“I think at a crossroads. For me, I think he jumped out there and was great, and has not continued on that path. You’ve been around the game a long time in a lot of sports. Guys will jump out that first year, throw that magic out there and then there’s a league change a team is going to gear up for you they’re going to try to make adjustments how get you out.”
As he previously did this season, Mattingly stressed the importance for Puig to make adjustments just as pitchers have done so with him:
If you don’t continue to work, continue to make adjustments then you get stuck. And so I think he needs to make some adjustments. Obviously the talent is there, the talent is off the charts, but he’ll have to make some adjustments for me, so he’s at a little bit of a crossroads where his career is right now.”
Puig’s 2015 season with the Dodgers was very much up-and-down. The Cuban native played in a career-low 79 games due to being plagued by multiple hamstring injuries. Puig’s .255/.322/.436 line was the worst of his three-year career, so too was his 111 wRC+.
