After spending the first six seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yasiel Puig was packaged in a trade last December with the Cincinnati Reds.
The salary-motivated deal included the Dodgers also sending Matt Kemp, Kyle Farmer and Alex Wood to the Reds. They received prospects Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray, as well as Bronson Arroyo but he had his option declined and was bought out in exchange for waiving his 10-and-5 no-trade clause.
A fan favorite during his time in Los Angeles, Puig’s stint with the Dodgers consisted of many highs and lows, both on-the-field and off-the-field. He evidently began to sour on manager Dave Roberts last season, revealing that he wasn’t a fan of his platooning method.
Along with that, Puig often disregarded the Dodgers’ positioning strategies directed to defenders on game day. According to Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times, the 28-year-old went as far as ripping up the positioning card given to him in front of outfield coach George Lombard:
He often ignored the positioning card distributed to Dodgers defenders before games; according to six people familiar with the situation, he on several occasions ripped up the card in front of outfield coach George Lombard and left the pieces on the ground.
“There were always things like that,” manager Dave Roberts said one day this spring. “Taking plays off.”
With analytics being a focal point of the Dodgers, shifts and defensive positioning have been vital to their success on defense in recent seasons. That Puig didn’t buy into the concept was certainly problematic, and it could have been another factor in the club’s decision to trade him.
Known for his strong arm, Puig enjoyed his best defensive season with the Dodgers in 2017, when he finished second in Gold Glove voting for right fielders. He took a bit of a step back last season, posting a UZR/150 of -6.0 while accumulating six defensive runs saved in right field.
To the naked eye, Puig generally was positioned correctly more times than not while with the Dodgers. Of course, it’s also plausible that his speed helped negate any miscues.
