Two games into the season, with Spring Training action still on deck in the meantime, and we are already hearing the “Yasiel Puig is out on control” stories and variations thereof. I believe that puts us well ahead of schedule.
Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes that he believes Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager Don Mattingly might be “running out of patience” with Puig. After dredging up the tired stories from last season, Saxon then writes that things have already been tense this year:
"Before Sunday’s game, Mattingly playfully compared Puig to the boy who cried wolf, saying he never knows when he is actually hurt because he grabs a different body part every time he strikes out.After the game, a 7-5 Dodgers win that Puig left in the ninth, there was nothing playful about Mattingly’s tone.‘Shoulder yesterday, back today, so I’m not sure if they’re going to get him tests or get him to the MRI Monday or a bone scan on Tuesday, maybe,’ Mattingly said sarcastically. ‘I’m not quite sure what we’ll do. We may not do anything. I’m not sure.’"
Of course we are left to rely on Saxon’s interpretation of Mattingly’s tone here to then assume that the Dodgers might be looking to crack down on Puig. The connection between the “boy who cries wolf” quote and the postgame quotes might not be as automatic as Saxon assumes either.
Maybe the writer here is right, and things are going to boil over with Puig sooner than we think. Saxon concludes by saying:
"The diva act will be tolerated as long as it rests on top of a sturdy batting average.”"
Fine. But then what? What’s the end game here? Bench him? Release him? Trade him? Saxon makes the Dodgers sound a little bit like the parent who tells their kid they’re going to count to three but then they don’t know what to do when they get there.
Maybe the Dodgers really will bench him or something because the “diva act will not be tolerated.” But that seems unlikely given Puig’s upside and this team’s World Series aspirations. This sounds more like either a story that isn’t actually there or empty threats from a grumpy manager.