LOS ANGELES (AP) — Yasiel Puig expects to be sent to the minors on Tuesday after the Los Angeles Dodgers were unable to trade him at the deadline, according to his agent.
Adam Katz said he was told Puig didn’t show up to Dodger Stadium on Monday before the club departed on its road trip to Colorado. Katz said the Cuban slugger wasn’t there because the Dodgers didn’t expect him to be on their big-league roster for Tuesday’s game.
“The club informed me and the player understood clearly that they were making every effort to trade him,” Katz told The Associated Press, “and that if they were unable to come to terms with another club on a trade – and successful in acquiring another outfielder – that he likely would be demoted.”
Dodgers spokesman Joe Jareck declined to comment on Puig’s whereabouts or status with the club.
Fox Sports first reported that Puig was not traveling with the Dodgers.
Los Angeles acquired Josh Reddick from Oakland on Monday, possibly squeezing the oft-injured, struggling Puig out of a job in right field.
Puig went 3 for 5 with two RBIs against Arizona on Sunday, making his first start since July 20 after his latest bout of persistent hamstring injuries.
Puig was an All-Star in 2014 after a meteoric rise with the Dodgers, who signed the refugee prospect to a seven-year, $42 million deal in June 2012. He hit 35 homers and drove in 111 runs while batting .305 in his first two big-league seasons, but slipped to .255 last season while playing in just 79 games due to hamstring troubles.
Puig has been physically limited and largely inconsistent even when healthy this season, batting .260 with seven homers in 81 games. His on-base-plus-slugging percentage is down to a career-worst .706.
Even some Dodgers fans who once adored his effusive personality and considerable talent have begun to sour on Puig, who missed 17 games in June and five in July with hamstring woes.
The Dodgers (59-46) couldn’t trade Puig, but they were busy at the deadline as they prepare to chase San Francisco (61-44) over the final two months of the NL West race.
Along with Reddick, who should be an immediate offensive contributor, Los Angeles picked up left-hander Rich Hill from Oakland, right-handed reliever Jesse Chavez from Toronto and right-handed reliever Josh Fields from Houston.
