Veteran outfielder Yasiel Puig is signing with the Aguila de Veracruz of the Mexican League, as reported by Francys Romero. Puig himself appeared to confirm the news on his personal X account. Puig previously played for the club in 2021.
The 33-year-old is a veteran of seven MLB seasons, six of which came as a member of the Dodgers, and last played in the majors in 2019 while splitting time between Cincinnati and Cleveland. The longtime outfielder slashed .277/.348/.475 in 861 career games in the majors, including a .305/.386/.502 line across the first two seasons of his career. That excellent early-career performance earned Puig, who was a consensus top-100 prospect prior to his big league debut, a second place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2013, an All Star nod in 2014, and down-ballot votes for the NL MVP award in both seasons.
After that phenomenal start to his career, Puig’s numbers took a turn for the worse, though he remained a quality regular throughout the rest of his time in the majors with a roughly league average .264/.330/.462 slash line over his final five seasons in the big leagues. Most of that production came with the Dodgers, though Puig was traded to the Reds alongside Alex Wood, Matt Kemp, and Kyle Farmer in a seven-player deal with the Reds just before the 2019 season that netted L.A. prospects Josiah Gray and Jeter Downs. After hitting free agency the following winter, Puig appeared to be nearing a deal to join the Braves for the 2020 campaign before a positive test for COVID-19 scuttled that deal and led to him sitting out the shortened season.
Since his last appearance in the majors, Puig has played international ball with stints in the Korea Baseball Organization as well as the Dominican and Venezuelan Winter Leagues in addition to the Mexican League. He’s performed well in those opportunities, slashing .291/.377/.558 in 1,032 combined plate appearances with 44 homers. That includes an impressive 51-game stretch in winter league play this offseason, where he slashed an incredible .330/.426/.607 in 202 trips to the plate.
Despite that strong performance, Puig hasn’t signed with an affiliated club since he first hit MLB free agency following the 2019 season. That apparent lack of interest may be thanks in part to off-the-field issues, which most recently have included allegations of lying to federal investigators during an investigation into an illegal gambling organization. Puig initially pled guilty to the charge in November 2022 before changing his plea to not guilty later that month. While Puig allegedly placed bets on football, basketball, and tennis back in 2019, there have been no indications in the case that he bet on baseball at any point.
Me Yasiel. You Jane
But can he pitch?
I used to feel bad for him before the allegations, now I hate him.
So you are here defending Puig who drives 100 drunk yet yesterday condemning Dominguez for assault (likely another bad decision made while drunk)? Wasn’t that you?
Have you read the article? He’s been accused of like a half dozen things. Some he’s been acquited of. Some.
I’m sorry for my other comment. I believe it was Ubaldo Jimenez not Mr. Hoffman. So apologies to Jack Hoffman.
What’s his record since leaving MLB 17-4-2 with 9KO’s? Haha
Always looking for a fight.
He was a very imature individual
Or just not very bright
Meh.
What learning disability does this man have?
He has Arrogant Jackass Syndrome, or AJS. Symptoms include thinking he’s the $H!T and can do whatever he wants just because he can hit a ball around. Pretty common among professional athletes who experience early success and let it get to their heads.
It say’s on the Baseball Reference website that Puig made close to $52M
The Unofficial MLBTR website Poll
How much do you think Puig has left of that $51.8 M ?
A-$40M
B-$15M
C-$5M
D-$1M
E-ZERO
@Winslow Leach
F-$1 Billion.
Haha…this is the best comment ever! I go with D, prob only worth the gold he wears on his neck. Hope he doesn’t end up like Hiram (Hi) Bithorn…was a mlb’er who played in the Mexican leagues in the 50’s and got smoked by a federàle over a bad car deal!
The Expos played in a stadium named for him in their last year when they split time between Montreal and San Juan.
I’d go with C and that 5 milly is sitting in the Cayman Islands away from US investigators. Gamblers have little rabbit holes of cash much like drug dealers. Whatever he has besides that 5 million is in cash in various spots waiting to place bets without any heat. He probably has people placing his bets for him at this point.
Even as a Dodgers fan, I always knew he was overrated with a low baseball IQ.
It was a great day when we finally got rid of him.
DD, what does “low baseball IQ” mean to you? It’s one of those terms like “pure hitter” that’s difficult to define.
When I think of the term a”pure hitter” imagine it’s a hitter who works the count well, fouls off a lot of pitches and doesn’t guess much.
To me a pure hitter is someone that doesn’t strikeout a lot and works the count. Best example to me is Tony Gwynn.
Having excellent athleticism and tools to do anything on the field but no idea how to harness them. He had the gifts to be an excellent player, but he squandered them by acting like a jackass everywhere he went.
This should be a note to players like Puig, Trevor Bauer, etc. morals matter!!!!
What they do in their off time is their business as long as it’s not illegal and affect the rest of the team.
Uhh… what they did WAS illegal.
Until its published in the papers and reported on the news.
You are most likely too young to remember that sports heroes use to be roll models. Your comment tells me everything I need to know about your generation, as long as you get away with it, all is good. And everyone wonders why the moral decay of our society Keeps going down.
Roll models, eh?
And in which generation were sports heroes “roll models”?
I think it says more about you that you had a “sports hero” as a role model than it does a generation. Also, moral decay has become exponentially worse since we started making “sports heroes” and television personalities our role models, so im not sure what the hell youre going on about. Try looking up to someone who you can actually emulate such as a parent, rather something you cojld never be.
I dont think it was an amazing comment but what he is saying is players were people kids wanted to be so they emulated them as much as possible. Before social media and the steroid era almost every player especially the great ones had impeccable records and seemed to be people that if you were a parent you would be proud if you kid grew up to be like them, be it a pro athlete or not. This still exists today but luckily player are allowed to be themselves more and not robots and i think it would make the game better if some more personality was brought to the game. Recent athletes that come to mind and role model types would be tour Kobes Bryants, Jeter, Sydney Crosby and Payton Manning. There are good examples from each of the big 4.
Kobe? Why not idolize Roethlisberger if your anointing rapists as role models.
“every player especially the great ones had impeccable records”
Citation needed here
And Kobe admitted that the woman did not consent. So great choice there, pal
Dr. Prof — You really need to read Ball Four. (You’re welcome.) That book really humanizes (and in some cases excoriates) many of the so-called baseball role models of the past. Now, that doesn’t mean such role models can’t and don’t exist but that is a subjective term. Roberto Clemente was an adamant leftist and humanitarian who died doing what he believed in. He died doing a very political and moral act.
I also sthink morality in this country has continually gone up since its founding.
Every baseball fan should read “Ball Four.” Whether you believe baseball players are real role models or not, the owners and players tend to agree on one thing: that it’s in the interests of both of them to maintain a positive image for the game, and players who behave badly on or off the field are not good for the image of the game. So that is why they get together on rules of conduct and not a lot else. They are selling an entertainment product, as some conveniently like to forget, and the audience consists of more than just the cynical older guys who post in places like this.
So Babe Ruth was a role model? Man is probably the most famous alcoholic in baseball history with Ted Williams a close second. To quote Charles Barkley back in the 90s on a McDonald’s commercial I believe, he said “I’m NOT a role model” and says the kid’s dad should be their role model. It’s funny everybody in the 90s wanted to be like Mike, but Mike was a gambling degenerate who didn’t want to do much with his fans.
Who said he was? Ruth was a notorious drinker and carouser especially early in his career, and was sanctioned for it. Baseball didn’t like this kind of behavior any better then than now, even though the media environment of his time wasn’t anything like today. Either way he ultimately got the message and cleaned up his act.
There is quite a big difference between Puig and Bauer. Like very big its not even close to compare.
Okay well other than not no charges filed and questionable civil suits in the accusations.
I’m waiting for the Trevor Bauer signs with Mexican League team headline.
Bauer will be quoted as saying “It’s always been my dream to play in the Mexican league.”
La Flama Blanca
Trevor Bauer is a Saint compared to Puig , Urías, Franco, Etc…
Really what him beating the crap out of a mate consenually is less worse then what some of these guys did? What is your barometer exactly?
Yes, because when there was a subpoena for the text messages, and they came out, and the girl took a selfie in bed with Bauer while he was sleeping, she was in horrendous shape.
Oh wait, she was actually un-beaten and perfectly fine.
It has been proven to be a complete money grab hoax and people like you wanna ignore the facts so you can virtue signal on MLBTR. Grow a set.
Also, there was tons of headlines out there about the incident when the accusations came out. Where are all the headlines about it being a money grab? How the LAPD refused to press charges?
Disgusting. Same goes for this site, too.
youtu.be/6SphfHJbsmk?si=zyP4BGrNGl9a-eCa
@guilderc2000
MLBTR is a great resource for finding out about who is clueless on these boards.
youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=XGRBdMkxzjc
She’s a straight out liar and a fraud, and she was doing it for money.
“It has been proven to be a complete money grab hoax”
Wow that’s weird because as far as I know Bauer was handed (by an independent arbitrator) the longest suspension for domestic violence in MLB history. Telling others to “grow a set” while you simp for Trevor Bauer. Pathetic.
@EightyRaw
Bauer has never spent a day in jail, nor has he been charged with anything-fact.
Being given a suspension by an independent arbitrator means what exactly, that the arbiter believed the testimony of the woman-because me too.
I agree, pathetic.. She has proven to be a liar.
Well, it means that he was found guilty of violating MLB policies (after MLB also found him guilty). Keep simping!
Exactly! If he beat and chocked her why would she return 3 weeks later for more of the same?
Oh and MLB (and therefore also the independent arbitrator) already had all this evidence that “proved” it was a “hoax”. So weird how he was still given the longest suspension.
It isn’t weird at all Eighty.
In today’s cancel culture, you’re guilty until proven innocent. And once your guilt is assumed, it permanently ruins your reputation, and tarnishes your character before you’re even “proven innocent”.
The mob would’ve come for the MLB had they done the right thing. Just like the All-Star game in Atlanta. It’s disgusting. Manfred and his lefty friends can’t be gone soon enough.
“In today’s cancel culture, you’re guilty until proven innocent”
So if he was still found guilty by an independent third party, I guess he’s just straight up guilty. Cancel culture is when an independent party finds someone deserving of the longest suspension.
“The mob would’ve come for the MLB had they done the right thing.”
Do you not understand what an independent arbitrator is? The ruling was taken completely out of MLB’s hands and…yep still the longest suspension. Simp simp simp simp.
The league (Manfred) suspended him. An arbitrator REINSTATED HIM. They upheld a much shorter suspension, but said he already accommodated it. A NY(lib-city) arbitrator “found him guilty” because of course he did, but immediately reinstated him because it was the right thing to do. Bauer is innocent and it’s a sham. Virtue signal, virtue signal, and virtue signal.
They didnt give him back pay so he was in fact found guilty and given the longest suspension in history. You are white knighting on the internet for Trevor Bauer. Cant simp any lower.
“lib city”
simping for Trevor Bauer already tipped everyone off on your intellect and politics. You dont need to show them off again.
He’s clearly not innocent. We’ve been over this. Remember, he was suspended. And it was upheld. The longest ever suspension. But maybe he’ll see this and become your friend!
He was suspended to appease people like you.
He was proven innocent in the court of law.
Quite frankly, any woman could falsely accuse you tomorrow. You don’t have the same financial resources to prove your innocence like Bauer. And you’re virtue signaling on a site that’s like 75% male to defend it. Grow a set Eighty.
Interesting take. For me, I would say Puig is a Saint compared to Bauer. Just my opinion.
And why would that be, NorCal?
Let me guess. The username speaks for itself?
Vazquez has to be the worst that i’ve seen in the MLB.
I’m surprised to see that name in a headline again.
I’m surprised he’s only 33, it feels like a lifetime ago when he was last in MLB. He was certainly a mercurial person, to put it nicely.
youtu.be/fH3JWNVPG_Q?si=sOs2-kxt07t_qb4v
Here’s another one.
Don’t hold your breath. Soon there will be a Fan Duel Park and a Draft Kings Stadium.
Puig was and might still be a horrible teammate. As a Dodger, he was always late and figured he didn’t have to follow the rules like everyone else and come to practices, etc. Roberts had to bench him for being late repeatedly. Hopefully that was all a lack of maturity but my hunch is he has a larger character issue.
latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-padres-20…
Please some MLB team sign Bauer…….so I can watch him get bombed and throw a tantrum.
Finally, a “sign Bauer!!1!1!” comment I agree with.
The Mercurial Yasiel Puig!
My main complaint about Puig and why I’m glad he isn’t a Brave is the whole bat-licking thing. I don’t think I could stand to watch that 5 times a game for about 180 games.
It was actually pretty hilarious.
How did he not get chances after his age 38 season in 2019 which wasn’t even that bad
Because MLB decided it was going to get rid of certain personality types like Puig and Bauer
And today’s big frowny goes to
🙁
Clever. Like most of your responses blue skies
Sometimes people are just so nasty a frown is all the response they deserve.
🙁
Poster child of how a bad attitude can get in the way of talent.
Million-dollar talent/ten cent brain. We’ve seen many in the world of sports. We who have one-hundred-dollar talent and a normal brain just shake our heads and think, “what a waste.”
Yasiel is still dealing with a federal case about an illegal sports gambling ring. Even if he successfully deals with it, the resolution is months or even years away. Unfortunately for Puig, no MLB owner wants anything to do with this kind of baggage in their clubhouse. He is lucky that the Mexican League allows him to play in Veracruz again. The last time, they signed him while he was only fighting a lawsuit. This time, he is fighting potential federal prison time.
“Only a lawsuit” when that lawsuit was about him cornering a woman and groping her in a public restroom. Sure, it’s only sexual assault, that’s nothing compared to him placing a few bets on some sports unrelated to baseball!
Lawsuits don’t result in prison time. Losing money is not good but jail time is worse. Federal court cases often result in prison sentences.
He’s still willing to commit sexual assault, which is the worse thing morally.
And the world of Baseball yawns