Clayton Kershaw Wants Yasiel Puig Traded…. Yes Please!

Andy Van Slyke was recently relieved of his coaching duties with the Seattle Mariners and in an epic “Half Baked” type rant he’s not going out quietly. Van Slyke got on Frank Cusumano’s show in St. Louis broadcasted on CBS 920 and opened up about a plethora of incidents around the league including that Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is pitching with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament (Masahiro Tanaka and the decision to rest and rehab his rather than have the surgery haters can now please excuse themselves), he called Robinson Cano not only the worst second baseman he’s ever seen in all his years in the game but he’s also a “awful player” as well and Van Slyke also revealed that Clayton Kershaw wants his Dodgers teammate Yasiel Puig traded.

Yes please! Van Slyke’s son, Scott Van Slyke, has been in the Dodgers organization for the past four seasons now and revealed to his father, presumably of course, that Kershaw suggested to the GM that Puig be traded from LA. I’m not saying that the inmates are running the asylum over in Los Angeles and that because Kershaw suggested a traded, reportedly, that one will happen but mixing this with the news that the Dodgers want to shed around $100 million in payroll before 2016 it does make for a pretty compelling argument and blog post. It’s the offseason, the time for dreams, so let’s have a little fun with it.

Adding Puig would bring a Brett Gardner or Carlos Beltran trade, the former more likely than the latter, and bring a right-handed presence to the team. Adding Puig’s defense and arm strength to the outfield would translate much better in right field, and he would be shifted there after 2016 in my opinion, and adding his bat to the lineup solidifies everything. The defense gets stronger, the lineup gets stronger and you would have to think playing besides players like CC Sabathia, Brian McCann, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran and others would calm Puig down and mature him a bit. New York is not the laid back “surfer dude” environment that Los Angeles is and neither is the fan base. Puig would learn on the fly, you can best believe that.

Adding Puig is not going to happen. Unless the Dodgers get absolutely blown away they aren’t going to trade Puig and they shouldn’t. He’s a young and controllable talent and asset to the team. What they need to do is call him into the office, have a sit down and try to open his eyes. If that doesn’t work, then you call Brian Cashman, shut up and take the team’s prospects.