Los Angeles Dodgers: Four teams that could trade for Yasiel Puig
By Jason Reed
Nobody seems to be safe on the Los Angeles Dodgers this winter and that is especially true for Yaasiel Puig, who could be the first one dealt this winter.
The Los Angeles Dodgers front office is looking to tweak a roster that has made the World Series for two consecutive seasons in order to finally get over the hump. Completely changing the core is foolish as this current core has led the team to plenty of success.
The biggest reason to tweak the roster, outside of finally getting over that hump, is because the roster is set for a big change after 2019, anyways. The Dodgers have some notable players that will be hitting the free agency market.
This is not anything to be alarmed about as the Dodgers continue to house one of the best farm systems in baseball and will enjoy success from call-ups as well as the possibility to dip into that farm to trade for outside talent.
However, it still should be in the team’s best interest to turn short-term help into long-term help. Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, Rich Hill, Hyun-Jin Ryu and David Freese are all restricted free agents after 2019. Enrique Hernandez, Joc Pederson and Justin Turner are all free agents the following year.
Not everyone is going to leave as the Dodgers will offer new contracts to some of the talents. One talent that looks to leave, though, is Yasiel Puig.
Puig has already been included in trade talks this winter and is reportedly disgruntled and does not trust the management due to his lack of appearances against left-handed pitching.
With Puig potentially leaving after 2019 anyways, the Dodgers’ best use of him might be in a trade to a team that hopes to lock him down after 2019. Here are four such teams that should be interested in Puig, starting with the one you already know.