11:29pm: A police spokesman says that the department is not aware of any allegation that Puig was involved in any physical altercation with his sister, Hernandez reports (Twitter links). If that holds true, then it certainly seems that any domestic violence-related inquiry will be short-lived. Of course, it remains possible that other disciplinary measures could be considered.
9:09pm: The MLB commissioner’s office will investigate Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig under its new domestic violence policy for his role in a reported barroom altercation on Wednesday night, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports. Renato Bermudez of ESPN Deportes first reported the incident on Twitter.
A report from TMZ Sports suggested that Puig “pushed” his sister at the bar, precipitating a larger conflict and apparently bringing the matter within the purview of the investigatory provisions of the still-untested policy. The account given by a Miami police spokesperson, via the Associated Press, refers only to an “argument” between Puig and his sister and a scuffle between the outfielder and a bouncer. Commissioner Rob Manfred is tasked with investigating “all allegations of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in the Baseball community.”
Puig will not be charged in relation to the incident, though that fact would not insulate him from action by the commissioner’s office. The domestic violence policy specifically provides that punishment may be levied regardless of whether criminal charges are brought or a conviction achieved. (Specifically, it says that “the Commissioner can issue the discipline he believes is appropriate in light of the severity of the conduct.”)
It’s far from clear at this point how the investigation will proceed, let alone what kinds of repercussions could be expected. The domestic violence policy has yet to be applied, though the league recently opened an investigation into Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes after he was arrested and later charged with assaulting his wife.
well, goodbye Puig trade rumors!
and Goodbye Greinke re-signing
It seems like this would actually make a Greinke re-signing more likely. After all, if the Dodgers can’t trade Puig for pitching anymore, they may have to instead turn to the FA market for a starter.
I think the comment was lobbed in the direction of Puig being a clubhouse cancer and Greinke’s public comments of desiring a good clubhouse atmosphere
Nah, will just get more rumors at this point, dodgers don’t need the drama for the value they could get in return.
That’s the point, you can’t get any value in return now. Nobody will touch him with a 10 foot pole, even if he is cleared of the allegations. It’s not like he had a sterling reputation already.
It will have no effect at all on his value. There’s a very long list of players like Puig who’s teams had no problems getting value in trades, with the players getting large and long contracts, and he isn’t even close to being that much of a “problem”. Watch and learn.
Yes and no. He’s still eminently tradeable, but he’d be massive trade bait if he’d shown more evidence of getting over his maturity issues. He was given a lot of leeway for the first season or two because of his age and athletic talent, but he is getting to the point where he has to figure out the rest of the game, and do it soon. All that said, probably the bigger issue affecting his trade value are the two hamstring injuries and his (effectively) ending the season on the DL.
His value is the same. As I said above, every team thinks it has a magic bullet that will turn a player in the right direction, or that he’ll suddenly grow up after they sign him.
Players with already well known maturity and attitude issues that have had a domestic violence allegation at the start of the winter (whether true or not)? Yes, I would like to hear the very long list.
It makes little difference if the “problem” is “maturity”, “domestic violence” or drug abuse. What’s the meaningful difference between Darrell Strawberry and Puig? But since you insist, there’s Alberto Callaspo (Felony Criminal Damage and Assault on his wife), Dmitri Young (Choked his wife), Milton Bradley (actually too numerous to mention, but his history included holding a gun to his wife’s head), Jose Canseco (in addition to the PEDS, DV against his wife), Wil Cordero (beating his wife over her head with a phone), Derek Lowe (DV), Dante Bichette (beating up his pregnant girlfriend), and even managers get into the act, as Bobby Cox was arrested for DV against his wife. All those instances are just a few examples, but they don’t include all the other allegations that could affect a player’s value, ranging from breaking into liquor stores to drug abuse. Every team will rationalize signing a problem player with talent, believing that they have just the personnel to turn that player’s life around, and it will be no different with Puig: he may or may not be traded, but if he is, the LAD will get value because teams will line up to make great offers.
Those are all true examples, but none of them were really trade bait at the time of their major incidents / issues. I think the best comp on that list is Alberto Callaspo, and his trade after his incident was really a nothing for nothing swap.
I guess we will find out. I personally think he won’t get moved now this offseason (Or at least for nothing of real value), regardless the truth of the allegation.
It isn’t any one thing affecting Puig’s trade value, it’s several, and they are cumulative. Mattingly’s sarcastic remark about him towards the end of the season in retrospect nows sounds like “it’s him or me” — and we saw how that worked out. They have to be hoping that Roberts can get through to him in a way that Mattingly was unable to do.
Unless of course they’ll sell him for a deep discount.
He’s so dumb OMG!
He really needs to grow up, the fact he is so temperamental and such a distraction is ridiculous, especially considering the circumstances of how he was able
To come to the US from Cuba you think he would be more cooperative with the team he’s on instead of wasting away being a total moron, he could be such a star if he would stop acting like. 16 year old and get his act together
Hopefully it wasn’t like that time when Tony Montana got rough with his sister at that nightclub in Miami
Lol! Good one
I’m sorry, but this shouldn’t fall under the category of domestic violence. Yes, it’s violence, minus the domestic part. Unless, of course, his sister lives with him and has to face him in the same house on a daily basis.
You need to attend some lectures and read some articles and books. Your viewpoint is entirely wrong. Please get help.
Or just another fan, you could read the cal penal code statute which states an individual commits domestic violence when they commit a criminal act within one of the types of relationships specified by the California Penal Code: spouse or former spouse; cohabitant or former cohabitant in a home; a parent with whom the individual has a child; or a partner in a dating relationship – See more at: http://statelaws.findlaw.com/california-law/california-domestic-violence-law.html. Abbreviated recitation.
Your viewpoint is factually wrong.
Has anyone ever stopped to wonder how much of this type of stuff happened in the past? With the creation of Twitter and cell phones with cameras there is no sweeping things under the rug. You can’t tell me in the drug days of the MLB back in the 70-80s that players didn’t do the same type of thing.
Technology is so much different now.
You’re right! Once upon a time the media would deliberately not publish these types of things and had a closer relationship with players.
MLB players also weren’t making hundreds of millions of dollars in the 70s either. What’s your point?
do you really not know what their point is
So because they probably did it in the past we should brush it aside now? If anything, the fact that it was rampant in the past means they should punish it harder now that every minor incident can damage the league. MLB is a business and its players hitting their spouses / girlfriends / family and having it thrown all over the media is NOT good for business. Especially as the league considers itself family friendly and continues efforts to increase youth participation.
Three-way trade: Puig – Reyes – Papelbon. Lol!!!
Some how Papelbon is the good guy of the bunch…
Lol so what, Pap closes for the Rockies, the Nationals try to find a a place for Puig to play and Reyes fights for playing time in LA?
Reyes arrested Thursday for fighting for playing time
Lol – Puig case isn’t like those losers but I won’t give a dollar for one of them
What an idiot!
So let me get this straight. Puig can hit multiple men, but apparently the commissioner needs to jump in because his sister was shoved?
Welcome to the 21st Century. The public has a zero tolerance for violence against women. Public perception affects the bottom line. Don’t blame Manfred one bit for jumping in.
Puig’s value just dipped to zero. The Dodgers can either try to fix Puig or make the the lowball trade. At this point, there may be more value to the Dodgers with Puig gone. It’s clearly not working and the media isn’t helping. Get him a change of scenery and a fresh start.
Public perception is based on us, the public. There should be zero tolerance for unjustifiably hitting ANYONE. We have laws against hitting both genders. There should not be a less harsh punishment for attacking one gender over another. I don’t know what happened and I imagine we will never get the whole story about this situation, but I seriously doubt this would be as big a problem if there wasn’t the initial report that he pushed his sister. Now we are hearing that it in fact did not happen. It’s just silly that we have allowed this to go this far. But I don’t think this will really affect his trade value. There are dozens of cases much worse than this in which baseball players assaulted loved ones.
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by, “it’s just silly that we have allowed this to go this far,” but it seems that you’re pre-judging the judgment. All we’ve heard is the league will investigate an apparent claim.
If the initial report is untrue, then the league investigation will in all likelihood reveal that. If it was unfairly reported, then I hope those responsible pay an appropriate price.
Speaking generally, though, it’s obviously a concern if any person assaults someone of any gender. But there are also good reasons to have added concern — and you should understand that there are more complicated dynamics — where the person allegedly being assaulted is in a special relationship with the alleged perpetrator. (That’s true whether or not there is a male aggressor and a female victim.)
Tru-Dat
He’s forbidden to hit multiple men (allegedly, this is TMZ, here) in a bar, but celebrated when he does it on a baseball diamond multiple times a year?
This all seems ridiculous, though. Sports leagues allowing dime store journalists (putting it mildly) at some celeb gossip site to continuously slander players is becoming a regular occurrence, especially now that TMZ has teamed up with FS1. At some point these leagues need to start sticking up for the players, instead of being quick to lead the knee-jerk dogpile.
There’s no story here, and yet it’s still caused further damage to Puig’s reputation.
The league has not issued any public statements or done anything to act on this beyond reportedly opening an inquiry. That seems appropriate to me.
I certainly agree, though, that any negligent or malicious reporting — particularly involving such a charged subject matter — is shameful.
According to LA media reports this morning, the physical altercation was limited to Puig and the bouncer. The former ended up with a black eye (literally and figuratively), and the latter a split lip. My guess is Puig got into an argument with his sister and was told to leave. The question, now that “domestic abuse” is not likely to be a factor, is whether MLB will impose some other disciplinary measure on Puig. Since neither man is pressing charges I am guessing not. The baseball question is whether the Dodgers will give up on Puig, or if they think a new manager will have more success helping him realize his potential. Factor in Mattingly’s remarks about Puig at the end of the season.
TMZ should stay away from sports
Finally someone said it. I can’t stand how Puig brings out the low-key racists who rush in to drop the word “thug” left and right – which, by the way, is the new “n-word”.
I don’t want to comment on his personal life as I know nothing but as a fan of baseball it’s getting to the stage of “Puig” and “wasted talent” being commonly used in the same sentence. The guy is physically gifted and exciting to watch but that’s about it at this stage of his career.
the Indians are standing by to give the Dodgers Salazar for puig. Better take the offer, Dodgers.
LAD would indeed take that offer, but it won’t be Salazar. Maybe Bauer, plus …
Depends on how true the Kershaw rumor is. If he doesn’t want him there, the Dodgers might just give him to whoever takes his contract.
I’m sure that some of his team mates don’t want him around but the Players Union would be litigating immediately if the Dodgers even hinted that they would take any action that would influence his future earning power. Of course, it’s really Puig who’s in control of his future, but MLB is typical of modern sports organizations that are there to hold the player’s hand to get him through life.
2 years of Brett Lawrie for 4 of Puig – who says no? Dodgers save money and have so much OF depth they wouldn’t miss him and Oakland can play Puig in LF in 2016 and RF in 2017-19 after Reddick leaves via free agency – no way that guy signs back with the A’s, he’s repeatedly said to the media and in private that he intends on testing free agency.
“Dodgers save money and have so much OF depth they wouldn’t miss him.” Is not even close to true. Dodgers don’t need to save money and their OF depth is junk. Crawford and Ethier are old, Joc has a swing problem, Van Slyke can’t hit anyone except Wade Miley, and Puig has more upside than all of them. Dodgers wouldn’t even consider that garbage for Puig.
With Puig being a Dodger they can go back to there old nickname from Brooklyn Dem Bumbs- a once said he don’t understand there history in L.A.n
LOL
Hey Price I bet your baseball agent read this stuff -So listen up you want to be a Cub to enjoy the fun they do before and after the game and winning important also .So Price your the Key . Get your money but don’t destroy the team .How can you your kids and there kids spend a $185Million don’t kill the organization that best fit what you want,and The City that will love you as much as we loved Ernie Banks if you don’t kill the program by being greedy
I’m sure that Puig or any other player doesn’t concern himself with the private lives of their fans, so frankly, I don’t really care about Puig’s private life any more than I would about the private life of my plumber; that’s between him and his contract with the LAD and by extension, MLB. To date, the Seattle Mariners are about the only club that has any sort of official policy related to Puig and his problems and if I was the GM at one of the remaining clubs, I’d think it a bit foolish for Seattle to reveal it.