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The news of the day in Dodgers Land was shaping up to be Matt Kemp’s activation from the disabled list for the team’s home opener against the division rival San Francisco Giants.

It didn’t take long for Yasiel Puig to overshadow that news, though. In fact, he made it completely irrelevant.

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times tweeted that Puig thought he had to be at the stadium at 10 a.m. PT, but the team took the field for stretching exercises at 9:40 a.m. PT. By showing up late, the controversial outfielder was benched, handing over his place in the lineup to Kemp—despite earlier comments from manager Don Mattingly, who said he didn’t want to “throw him into the fire.”

Puig had successfully re-directed the focus to yet another one of his antics.

After the team’s two-game sweep over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Australia on March 22-23, Mattingly openly questioned whether Puig was really injured after he pulled himself out of the game following his strikeout in the top of the ninth inning. 

Interestingly enough, Mattingly told reporters prior to the game that the 23-year-old outfielder “grabs something every time he takes a swing and misses.”

When asked about Puig postgame, Mattingly answered sarcastically, “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. I’m not quite sure what we’ll do. We may not do anything. I’m not sure.”

The following Tuesday, Mattingly held a team meeting to clear the air and allow the young superstar a chance to address his teammates and vice versa (via Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com).

“I asked them to please keep helping me,” Puig said. “Specifically with baserunning and hitting my cutoff man. I want them to help me with everything they can.”

Puig‘s veteran teammates and the Dodgers’ coaching staff undoubtedly have no problem helping him improve as a baseball player. It’s doubtful, though, that they want to be in charge of making sure he shows up on time, drives closer to the posted speed limit or keeps his weight in check during the offseason. 

The problem with Puig may be that he’s too talented for his own good. He does things like this too often…

When it comes down to it, the punishment that might ultimately humble him and turn him into the disciplined and mature ballplayer the Dodgers want him to be could also hurt their chances to win in 2014.

Benching him for a game is not enough. Big leaguers take occasional days off during the 162-game season. Benching Puig for more than a few games is not possible. He’ll be needed as a pinch hitter and will have a chance to become a hero once again. Game-winning pinch-hit homers will not likely result in a lesson being learned. 

How about sending him to the minors where Mattingly won’t be tempted to put him in the lineup and where he won’t be nearly as revered by Dodgers fans as when he’s on a major league baseball field? Now we’re getting somewhere.

For how long? Officially, it should be for an “unspecified amount of time.” In reality, it should be for however long the Dodgers feel is necessary for Puig to grow up.

And now that I’ve revealed the probable solution, it’s time for a reality check.

We all know that the Dodgers cannot afford to send one of the most talented players in the game to the minors. They’re already without ace Clayton Kershaw (back injury) for at least the next month. That’s enough adversity to try and overcome. They’ll be an inferior team without Puig in their lineup. 

In the 104 regular-season games Puig played in last season, the Dodgers were 66-38. Puig had a .319/.391/.534 slash line with 19 homers and 42 runs batted in. They were 26-32 without him in the lineup. 

The Dodgers’ impressive run after a poor start wasn’t all Puig‘s doing. But his arrival in the majors in early June provided the necessary spark for a lifeless team that finished the year as one of the best squads in the majors.

They’re not interested in finding out how much of a spark they’ll lose without him.

For at least this season, the Dodgers will continue to deal with “Puig being Puig” because they have no other choice. They want to bring a World Series title to Los Angeles, and it’s hard to see them doing that without Puig‘s bat in the lineup.

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Updates from Saturday, April 5

Puig is back in the lineup on Saturday, according to the Dodgers’ official Twitter feed:

Original Text

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig was originally slated to start the team’s home opener against the rival San Francisco Giants, but the team pulled him from the lineup after he arrived to the ballpark late.

Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports Puig didn’t make it to Dodger Stadium in time and therefore missed a majority of the pregame workout routine:

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com thinks it might be time for the uber-talented 23-year-old rising star to seek some advice on how better to conduct himself at the major league level:

After the game, Puig said he apologized, according to Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com:

Puig said he apologized to Mattingly and his teammates after batting practice.

“I asked him for forgiveness as well as my teammates. It was my mistake,” Puig said. “I’ll be here early tomorrow.”

Puig wasn’t used as a pinch hitter because Mattingly said the situation didn’t call for it. He also said he thought not allowing Puig to play was more fitting punishment than fining him a couple hundred dollars.

There is no doubting Puig’s ability. He hit .319 with an on-base percentage near .400 last season as a rookie. He also had 19 home runs and 11 stolen bases.

The questions are more about his maturity level.

As the Dodgers wrapped up their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Australia in March, Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles reported that manager Don Mattingly wasn’t sure the organization was handling its young star properly.

Mattingly has benched Puig before, and Saxon’s report included quotes from Mattingly from the end of last season in which he talked about the situation:

Leave it to me, it’d be one way, but that’s not necessarily the way the organization wants things to go. I just think there has to be a development system that we adhere to with Yasiel, along with all the other guys.

Showing up late for the first game at home is just the latest example of Puig not sticking to the status quo, and he’ll find himself on the bench as a result.

Looking ahead, it’s unclear whether simply removing him from the lineup will cause him to change his ways. It’s also a lot easier to overlook these types of minor issues when he continues to play well on the field.

But it’s clear Mattingly, a longtime former player with a successful track record, is trying everything in his power to get Puig to carry himself the right way. The young outfielder would be wise to pay attention to the wake-up calls his manager is trying to deliver.

In the short term, being able to slip Matt Kemp in your lineup at a moment’s notice is a nice luxury to have for the Dodgers.

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The mystery of Yasiel Puig was revealed after he burst onto the big league scene in early June and helped carry the Los Angeles Dodgers to an unbelievable run from worst to first in the NL West and all the way to the National League Championship Series. 

Puig‘s seven-year, $42 million deal in June 2012 almost seemed like an afterthought after all of the offseason buzz surrounding fellow Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who signed a four-year, $36 million deal less than five months earlier. Two years later, it’s the 23-year-old Puig who has stolen all of the spotlight. 

Despite five months of Puig becoming an overnight sensation and a household name last year, it’s hard to know what to expect in 2014.

Baseball is a game of ups and downs. There are huge injury risks involved, and players rarely make it through a 162-game season at full health. In addition, constant adjustments need to be made as opponents discover weaknesses. 

While the game appeared almost too easy for Puig during his rookie season, it’s hard to know how he’ll play when he has to deal with minor injuries or how he’ll adjust to the strategies of opposing pitchers or whether he can stay out of trouble off the field. 

Here are 10 predictions for Puig‘s sophomore MLB season.

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As great as Yasiel  Puig was during his rookie season in 2013, there are plenty of reasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers to be concerned as he heads into his sophomore season. 

For one, it’s still unknown how well the 23-year-old will be able to adjust to teams who will be trying to exploit weaknesses he revealed last season. His relative anonymity made it difficult for opponents to game-plan around him once he made the jump from Double-A to the majors last June. By season’s end, though, it appeared that they had started to figure him out—he hit just .205 over his last 27 regular-season games and also struggled in the NLCS. 

A second arrest for reckless driving in December—his first was back in April while he was playing in Double-A—also exposes his lack of maturity. In a team statement issued shortly afterward, the Dodgers said that Puig‘s behavior “is a very serious issue” to them. 

And now, a 26-pound weight gain from the end of the regular season, according to Mark Saxon of ESPN.com, is yet another reason for manager Don Mattingly to question whether his young outfielder is ready to take the next step into major league superstardom. 

“We don’t feel it’s going to be a problem, but we’re paying attention to it, put it that way,” Mattingly told ESPN Los Angeles.

Mattingly might not make a big deal about it to the media, but he understands how important Puig is to the team’s success and the extremely high expectations that will follow his MVP-caliber performance from 2013.

At 251 pounds, Puig is only 16 pounds heavier than he was last spring when he reported to camp at a muscular 235 pounds. A young kid like Puig will probably bounce back in no time with some help from the trainers. But for such a young kid to unintentionally put on 25 pounds in such a short period of time—people aren’t raving about his linebacker-esque physique this time around—should be a big concern.

While several players with less-than-impressive physiques have had long and successful big league careers, Puig‘s lack of discipline and a possible lack of motivation could very well be an indication that he will struggle at times to stay at the top of his game throughout his career.

The ease at which his success came as a rookie could be making it difficult. As Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax recently pointed out to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times when discussing some of Puig‘s on-the-field issues, Puig is able to make up for mistakes because of his physical ability. 

“He’s young. The biggest thing is he’s not played against competition as good as he is. So you’re always able to have your physical ability make up for whatever else you do. “He’s learning. I’m sure it’s going to happen. He has too much talent.”

While Koufax was addressing Puig‘s theatrics on the field, his comments could easily be redirected to Puig‘s offseason and why he wasn’t motivated to keep his weight in check.  

Is it a case of too much success too early? At this time next year or maybe even a few years down the road, will we be discussing how Puig has learned from his mistakes and is now in the best shape of his career after slacking off in the past?

As much as Dodgers fans don’t want to hear this, a really bad season could be the best thing for Puig and his career as opposed to one that might not be as good as last year but also isn’t a complete disaster.

For Puig to reach his full potential and become a player who is consistently great, he’ll need to work hard. For Puig to work hard, he needs to be motivated. For Puig to be motivated, he might need to be really bad at hitting a baseball after an offseason in which he spent driving recklessly—at least once—and gaining 26 pounds. 

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A successful baseball season usually consists of a team having a lot more players meeting or exceeding expectations than those who fall short. In most cases, at least one or two of those players will perform way above and beyond what anyone could have imagined. For the 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers, that was Yasiel Puig.

After signing a seven-year, $42 million free-agent deal in June 2012 just a few months after defecting from Cuba, Puig didn’t exactly come out of nowhere last season. But, with only 23 minor league games played between the Dodgers’ Arizona rookie-level team and High-A Rancho Cucamonga, it would’ve been difficult to find many people who thought he would make much of an impact at all in his first full season as a pro. 

That sentiment likely changed, however, after a monster spring training performance (30-for-58, 3 HR, 5 2B, 2 3B, 11 RBI, 4 SB) when he nearly forced himself onto the Opening Day roster. After posting a .982 OPS with eight homers and 13 stolen bases in 40 Double-A games to start the season, he was called up to the majors in early June.

If there were any questions about whether Puig, who struck out 11 times without drawing a walk in the spring, would be able to hit major league pitching, they were answered immediately. 

It wasn’t until his 35th big league game that his average finally dipped below .400 and, aside from the NLCS when St. Louis Cardinals pitching held him in check for the most part (5-for-22, 3B, BB, 10 K), he never really showed any signs of struggle to hit big league pitching. Puig finished his rookie year with a .925 OPS, 19 homers, 21 doubles and 11 stolen bases in 104 games. He was also second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and 15th in MVP voting. 

With Puig on the big league roster, the Dodgers went 69-38 to finish the regular season. Several factors coincided with the team’s impressive run, but none had a bigger impact than Puig‘s arrival. 

The result is that the 23-year-old will enter his second big league season with a mountain of expectations. Will he continue to put up superstar numbers despite teams having much more in-depth scouting reports on him? Or will he come back down to earth?

By “come back down to earth,” I mean that flaws in his offensive game will be exposed, and he’ll be prone to extended slumps as he tries to make the proper adjustments to pitchers who have attacked his weaknesses. There would still be plenty of highly productive weeks or even months. But over a 162-game season, there would be extreme peaks and valleys as opposed to the four months of excellence he produced in 2013.

While that doesn’t mean Puig will be a mediocre player or even an average regular, the reality is that it’s extremely difficult to do what he did over the course of a full season. Only a small percentage of big league hitters can be counted on for that type of production year in and year out. 

And we certainly can’t rule Puig out from being in that group. He’s obviously capable of doing it over a majority of the season, though the lack of information available on him had to work to his advantage, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if teams have a plan of attack for the right-handed hitting slugger based on any weaknesses that might have been revealed in 2013.

If he’s the type of player who can put up just very good numbers that are All-Star worthy—think .800 OPS, 25 HR, 30 2B and 15 SB to go along with a high strikeout total—as opposed to the MVP-caliber numbers he was on pace for last year, are the Dodgers in for a letdown as they head into the 2014 season with World Series aspirations? 

As good as its projected 25-man roster is on paper, this is not a team without concerns. Puig‘s arrival last June catapulted a team that appeared dead in the water at 23-32.

The manager and the general manager were on the hot seat. Several key players, including Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez (pictured), were dealing with injuries. The lack of depth in the upper minors had been exposed. Adrian Gonzalez, as good of an all-around player as he still is, hasn’t been the type of hitter who can carry a team on his back for weeks at a time as he did with the San Diego Padres a few years back.

Ramirez’s return to health was a huge part of the Dodgers’ emergence, as was Andre Ethier’s return to form after an awful start to the year. Moving Kenley Jansen into the closer role proved to be an integral move. The acquisition of Ricky Nolasco certainly helped.

But without Puig, the Dodgers may have never recovered, and there’s a good chance they’d have a new manager and general manager running the show right now. 

So what can go wrong in 2014? Every team in the majors has question marks. They all can be good if a certain number of factors can occur. A team like the Astros or Marlins would need too many stars to align in order to compete for a playoff spot. But it could happen. The teams with the best chance just have a lot less “what ifs.”

For the Dodgers to not have to count on Puig carrying the team on his back once again, they’ll need at least a good percentage of the following things to happen: 

1) Hanley Ramirez stays healthy.

2) Matt Kemp returns to full health.

3) Juan Uribe, who was re-signed to a two-year deal after a solid 2014 season, won’t revert to his 2011-2012 form (.552 OPS).

4) Cuban second baseman Alexander Guerrero, who signed a four-year, $28 million deal this offseason, won’t be a bust.

5) Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke avoid the disabled list.  

6) Dan Haren pitches like he did in the second half of last season (3.52 ERA) and not the first half (5.61 ERA). 

7) Chad Billingsley returns from Tommy John surgery in the second half and gives the rotation a shot in the arm down the stretch.

8) Josh Beckett returns to health and gives the Dodgers a solid No. 5 starter in their rotation early in the season.

That’s a pretty extensive list, especially for a team that is widely regarded as one of the top World Series contenders. If Puig‘s production does “come back down to earth,” the Dodgers better be able to check off at least five or six of these things if they’re going to avoid becoming one of the most disappointing teams in baseball in 2014.

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Los Angeles Dodgers phenom outfielder Yasiel Puig was arrested on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 28, in Collier County, Fla. for reckless driving—his second such charge of 2013. 

NBC 2 News in Florida has the report:

BREAKING: LA Dodgers Yasiel Puig arrested in Collier Co. this morning. #swfl http://t.co/UsuYFCskTm pic.twitter.com/R9VgwmjP4V

— NBC2 (@NBC2) December 28, 2013

Dave Osborn of the Naples Daily News provides his mugshot:

Arrest mug shot of Los Angeles Dodger All-Star Yasiel #Puig. Read full story at http://t.co/bIvMfQFn5v. pic.twitter.com/i1wZeXIwPx

— Dave Osborn (@NDN_dosborn) December 28, 2013

Per Florida Highway Patrol officials (via the NBC 2 report), the 23-year-old Dodgers star was arrested around 9:30 a.m. after being pulled over for driving 110 mph in a 70 mph zone. He was driving a 2013 Mercedes in Alligator Alley, which is located in the southern part of Florida. 

In April of 2013, shortly before he was called up to the major leagues, he was charged with speeding, reckless driving and driving without proof of insurance, per the Los Angeles Times‘ Kevin Baxter.

”We’re aware of it,” Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said following Puig’s first arrest. “We take it seriously. We’ll be handling discipline internally.”

The Cuban star has a bright future in the major leagues. 

In 104 games during his rookie season, he hit an impressive .319/.391/.534 to go with 19 home runs, 42 RBI, 66 runs scored and 11 stolen bases. He also provided tremendous defense—most notably a rocket arm—in right field and was a major catalyst in L.A.’s season turnaround when he was brought up in June. 

There have been suspicions about his maturity (he was assigned a mentor last spring, according to Baxter), however, and the youngster needs to stay out of trouble and make smarter decisions off the diamond if he is going to continue to climb the ranks in MLB. 

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With the candidates for the American League MVP Award essentially determined already (Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera), let’s turn our attention to the National League. The award is wide open this year with no clear favorite standing out.

Who will claim 2014’s National League Most Valuable Player Award? You can be sure it will be one of these players.

All statistics are courtesy of baseball-reference.com and fangraphs.com, unless otherwise noted.

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The season might be over, but Yasiel Puig is still playing baseball at Dodger Stadium, making sure to keep around those who might actually appreciate his antics.

CBS Sports’ Matt Snyder spotted a refreshing sight recently: a tweet from Dodgers PR person Yvonne Carrasco showing off Puig playing baseball with a reported 50 kids from the neighborhood.

Carrasco continues by tweeting the kids are from Northeast Los Angeles Little League. Here is the Dodgers’ exciting and polarizing phenom throwing some soft toss to a young fan.

MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick has more, including the wonderful impetus behind the baseball clinic. It seems the kids’ league actually overlooks the stadium’s parking lot.

A few weeks back, Puig visited the park and spoke with some of the children, and that’s when one of them relayed that he had never actually been to Dodger Stadium.

Consider that remedied.

He didn’t just let the kids see the stadium. He had them experience as much of it as he could possibly offer: pitching 40 minutes of batting practice, giving tours to the clubhouse where the Little Leaguers enjoyed the feeling of sitting at the lockers and letting them take some hacks in the cages.

Puig told Gurnick, “I played Little League when I was 9, went through the system, and now I’m grateful that I’m able to do this for these kids.” The 22-year-old who took over MLB this season added, “Maybe they’ll be able to support me when I get old.”

As long as they don’t turn into crotchety curmudgeons who continue to whine about the “sanctity of the game,” we don’t see why they wouldn’t.

Many of you hear the name Puig and immediately grimace and think of a young man who makes errant throws and attempts to turn singles into triples.

While he may need some education on the finer points of the fundamentals of the game, don’t ever make the mistake of proclaiming he doesn’t get what’s most important about the sport.

MLB, as with any sport, is here to lift spirits and invigorate fans. Puig is rather masterful at doing both.

Now, if seeing Puig give back to the community wasn’t enough to turn that grumpy frown upside down, consider that the young fella is already working hard for next season.

If you are into prolific posting, follow his Instagram feed. There you will find things like the following—Puig training hard at Dodgers facilities.

Puig might overthrow a cutoff man every now and again, and he does have the propensity to swing at balls outside the strike zone.

Heck, he still needs some work on routine plays in the outfield.

But he is the future of the Dodgers organization, and that should make all the Angelenos still wearing blue in November very proud.

Hit me up on Twitter:

Follow @gabezal

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Imagine a scenario where the Miami Marlins calls Jay Z’s sports agency, Roc Nation, and tells him they are prepared to offer All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano the 10-year, $300 milllion contract the New York Yankees aren’t willing to put on the table. 

Roc Nation, surprised but skeptical because of what team is on the other line, decides to tell the Marlins they want $350 million for 10 years. Unfazed, the Marlins says that won’t be a problem. 

By Christmas, Cano signs with the Marlins, and the baseball world is stunned.

Believe it or not, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman thinks the Marlins could be a stealth bidder for Cano because they are further along in their accumulation of young talent, and no owner has proven more impetuous in spending and selling off than Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria.

In reality, this scenario is a pipe dream. There’s a better chance the Chicago Cubs will win the 2014 World Series than the Marlins have on spending more than $300 million on one single player. But if the Marlins did pull it off, no one would have seen it coming.

And that’s the point of this exercise, which is we will take a look at what big moves, from least likely to most likely, the “cash-strapped” Miami Marlins could realistically pull off this offseason. 

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Los Angeles Dodgers star Yasiel Puig couldn’t avoid negative attention in the 2013 NCLS, and this time the group irked by his behavior are the umpires calling the series.

According to Ken Gurnick and Lyle Spencer of MLB.com, during L.A.’s Game 5 win against the St. Louis Cardinals, some of the umps were taking umbrage with the way they felt the rookie outfielder was behaving on the field:

Puig has enraged the crew, which believes he is showing up umpires at home plate. It nearly came to a head in Game 5 when Puig was called out on strikes by plate umpire Ted Barrett and stood in the batter’s box, left hand on hip, staring at Barrett. Earlier in the at-bat, Puig said something to Barrett, who came out from behind the plate, brushed off the plate and apparently said something to Puig.

[…]

Apparently, this crew, which Torre oversees, feels that Puig has crossed the line. It’s not known if Puig has been fined, but apparently word was sent from MLB offices to the Dodgers’ clubhouse that disrespecting the umpires with displays at home plate won’t be tolerated, especially by Puig.

Gurnick and Lyle also reported that Dodgers owner Stan Kasten had some words with Joe Torre, executive vice president of baseball operations for MLB:

So, is that what Kasten and Torre were arguing about?

“Just some friendly conversation,” said Torre.

“Joe and I were chatting,” said Kasten.

This would be the second time that Puig‘s caused a bit of drama in the series. During Game 3, he chose to finish off a triple with a demonstrative jump onto third base and a little bit more celebrating.

You’d think that since it’s the playoffs and all, Puig‘s reaction wouldn’t be a big deal. In big-time situations like this, players are going to respond with emotion. However, the rookie’s celebrations didn’t sit well with Carlos Beltran and other Cardinals players.

Clearly a great talent, Puig has proven a bit hard to handle for the Dodgers in 2013.

Back in August, he was taken out of a game against the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning for what were termed “disciplinary reasons.”

There was also the time the polarizing star brushed aside former major league slugger Luis Gonzalez before a game, which upset Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire.

Overall, Puig had a forgettable NLCS. Aside from that triple, he didn’t do much offensively. In Game 6, he also made a few defensive mistakes that ended up costing the Dodgers, who lost the game, 9-0, and the series to St. Louis, 4-2.

There could be ramifications for Puig that last beyond the postseason, as the league could pursue a fine or a suspension stemming from his behavior toward the umpires.

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