Yasiel Puig finally arrives

Yasiel Puig plays baseball like he has bees in his pants. Here he is after an infield single in the bottom of the ninth inning, with the Dodgers down by three runs.

He just wants to get to the dugout to get rid of those bees, guys. They’re bitey. And this bee problem extends to the field, too, where he’s constantly in danger of running into players and/or walls. Can’t really think straight because of the bees. And they also make him angry, so you should probably just stay out of his way.

When baseball writers sleep, do they dream of electric Puig?

Another term for “physically gifted” is athletic. Based on the historical evidence, there have been few players more athletic than Bo Jackson in human history, simply by virtue of his superstar status in two completely different sports. He was, for a year or two anyway, one of the world’s greatest American football running backs and one of the world’s better outfielders. And you got the impression he could have, given just a bit of practice, mastered any number of other sports as well. And thus, one of the great ad campaigns.

You could write a book about the greatest catches in baseball history. Actually that book has been written (and yes, I’ve got it here, somewhere). You could also write a book about the greatest throws in baseball history. I don’t believe that book’s been written, and I’m not going to write it today. However, there are exactly three throws in my personal experience that feel truly iconic ... and we might have seen a fourth Monday night.

I don’t mean a great throw in the traditional sense; the great majority of great throws are essentially generic: outfielder fields ball, outfield uncorks perfect throw just in time to nab surprised runner. They’re lovely to see, but within a week we’ve probably forgotten them. But there are three (and now maybe four) throws that have stuck with me because they came early (or relatively early) in a player’s career and helped cement that player’s reputation forever.

A couple of things...

But of course it’s way, way more than just this season. AFTER THIS SEASON, the Dodgers owe roughly $280 million to their three primary outfielders; Crawford and Ethier are locked up through 2017, Kemp through 2019. So if everything went according to the Dodgers’ so-recently-laid-plans, there wouldn’t be any room for Puig in the lineup for a long, long time.

Between November 18, 2011 and August 26, 2012, the Los Angeles Dodgers committed just over $309 million to four outfielders. Which is a very, very effective way to find three outfielders, I suppose. But it also means you’re going to get columns like this one for the next year or five. To recap, the Dodgers have Cuban sensation Yasiel Puig, who had 43 hits in his last 41 spring-training at-bats, and here’s what he’s doing in the minors now:

And don’t forget the Greater Prospect Uncertainty Theorem, which holds that a prospect will always, always, always be a better option than a struggling veteran. This is because the veteran is struggling in the majors and the prospect is not. Quid pro ex machina, the prospect is better. The clamoring for Puig is getting louder and louder as he keeps hitting.

The post-signing notes:

And one post-signing tweet of supreme competing-front-office bitchiness:

Yasel Puig, a Cuban-born outfielder, will shortly be signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers to a seven-year, $42 million contract. This, you already know. Now, thanks to Dodgers beat writer Dylan Hernandez, we have a few more details:

Agent thinks Puig could play in the majors this year, but ‪#Dodgers‬ aren’t counting on that. Could be a year or two away.Pretty optimistic, that agent, about a 20-year-old coming to a new country and culture.

If you’re like most baseball fans, you woke this morning without any clue who Yasel Puig was. Or, perhaps you read the FanGraphs article from yesterday, and you heard about him for the first time. Maybe you hoped your team would be one of the ones poking around. The more prospects the better, right?

Except I’m not sure anyone saw this coming: