While the Los Angeles Dodgers were said to have put several players on revocable waivers during August, their doing so with Yasiel Puig garnered the most attention. The move came three weeks after Puig was demoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
That took place after Los Angeles was unable to trade their enigmatic outfielder prior to the Aug. 1 non-waiver deadline. The decision to option Puig spawned from the organization taking issue with his work ethic and off-the-field behavior.
Puig has drawn praise from Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts for his handling of the demotion and success with Oklahoma City.
However, to interpret that as a guarantee of sorts that Puig will remain with the club into next season is ill-advised.
To no surprise, Puig was claimed on waivers. According to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball, multiple clubs put in a claim, which went to a National League team that attempted to work out a trade:
It was an NL club that won the claim on Puig and they did make some attempt to trade for him. Multiple teams put claim in.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) September 1, 2016
Teams that were previously linked to Puig include the Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox. While Atlanta was thought to have interest if Puig hit the waiver wire, previous reports indicated they did not claim him.
Once scenario believed to have been plausible was team with the winning claim simply wanted to block Puig from potentially going to another club. Although the Dodgers did not move the Cuban native, a trade in the future can’t be ruled out.
Even with praise from Friedman and Roberts, the Dodgers haven’t so much as committed to calling up the 25-year-old now that active rosters have expanded. A closed-door meeting reportedly will be held with Puig prior to a potential call-up.
