The Mystery of Yasiel Puig

There may be no more confounding player in baseball than Yasiel Puig. His natural talent seems boundless. For bursts of weeks and months, Puig will look for all the world like a demigod in a Dodgers uniform, mashing and running and throwing like he was put on this planet to torture pitchers and baserunners.

Those stretches of time have grown scarcer, however. Every year since his blistering 2013 debut, Puig’s wRC+ has steadily fallen. It wasn’t as apparent in his five-win 2014, and frankly nobody expected him to keep up the 160 wRC+ he’d notched the year before. The last two years, though, have been rough. Puig has been limited to just 183 games since the start of 2015. He’s been sidelined by a variety of injuries, and that’s affected both his playing time and (likely) his production. Puig was even sequestered away in Triple-A for a month this year.

The question of who Puig really is as a player might be an easy one, but it feels complicated. Is he still going to be a star? How many offseasons in a row have we had this conversation now? Why do we care so much about a man who may just be a good-but-not-great cog on a great team? There have been plenty of blue-chip prospects who have developed into merely average players before, and there will be again. Puig may be the latest in that long line. It’s a simple answer, and it’s an acceptable one. What is it about Yasiel Puig that captures your attention and imagination?

It’s this.

It’s his amazing story of escape from Cuba and the mystique he possessed as a prospect. It’s the notoriety he’s gained on the field and in the media as a hothead who’s not afraid to take a jackhammer to the unwritten rules of player conduct. Puig is a singular figure, one who could have, and still could become, a new kind of baseball star. He’s always going to be well-known because he’s Yasiel Puig, but perhaps we expected to him to have made more than one All-Star Game by now. Between his inconsistency and off- (and, admittedly, on-) field antics, the Dodgers may be willing to move on from him. Even Puig seems to recognize this.

Yasiel Puig: "I want to be a starter again, whether it's here or somewhere else."

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) January 23, 2017

It was Puig who was supposed to be the new-age superstar of a new-age Dodgers team. Now, he may not even be the best young outfielder on the roster. Joc Pederson has outproduced him for two years — and projects to do that again in 2017. Puig looks like a secondary piece now, one who may in fact be in need of that proverbial change of scenery. Los Angeles has outfielders to spare, with more on the way (Cody Bellinger may be playing out there as long as Adrian Gonzalez is a thing). And indeed, Puig could theoretically fetch a substantial package. He’s signed for two more years at a reasonable rate. He’ll only be 26 this season. There’s still enough talent here to dream on.

But there does seem to be something blasphemous about imagining Puig with a different club. It’s possible that this boisterous cannonball of a man could flourish in a different city, but Los Angeles seems like the appropriate home for one of the most entertaining and polarizing players in the world. Can there be a Yasiel Puig in Cleveland, or in Atlanta?

By definition, yes. But Puig merits another shot with the Dodgers. ZiPS foresees a 3.2-win season for Puig this year, while Steamer puts him at 2.8. Those are decent, if not great, numbers. Neither projection system calls for him to reach the 600-plate-appearance mark, nor the 550. And indeed, this may be who Puig really is at this point: a brilliant athlete with nagging injuries who doesn’t ever ascend to the heights he once touched.

The Dodgers don’t necessarily need him to be more than that. They have a strong club, led by Corey Seager, and almost any team would be satisfied with a three-win right fielder. What the club likely won’t tolerate is a one-win mess who earns a trip to Oklahoma City and requires the acquisition of Josh Reddick, like in 2016.

If that happens, the relationship between player and club could fall apart quickly. As noted above, Puig seems to realize that his future may lie somewhere besides Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers themselves made it clear last season that they’re willing to proceed without Puig. For better or for worse, 2017 may very well be the year we find out who exactly Puig is going to be in the big leagues, and for whom he’ll be playing.

Hopefully, that doesn’t happen. Hopefully, it all works out. Simply put, the game is better when Yasiel Puig is running amok and making us scratch our heads. He’s baseball in one of its most absurdist forms, and also one of its most impressive. The good can outweigh the bad, as it has in the past. He is good for the game, good for the Dodgers, good for the fans. A healthy Puig is pure baseball goodness. Here’s hoping that’s what the coming season has in store.