By Jon Weisman
Yasiel Puig was filled with insouciant musings during today’s conclusion of the Dodgers’ Pitching in the Community caravan, and Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com captured it in an entertaining piece. Here’s an excerpt:
… Puig looked strong, but had no idea how much he weighs with 27 days left until the first full-squad workout.
Perhaps somewhere between 255 and 260.
“Whatever weight I come in, it doesn’t matter,” Puig said, citing teammate Juan Uribe as an example by calling him a “gordito,” exaggerating his weight and saying, “He saves us every game at third base.”
Puig also glowed about Astros 5-foot-6 second baseman Jose Altuve, his teammate for an exhibition tournament throughout Japan in November and someone he credited with inspiring him to intensify his workout regimen this offseason.
“I don’t like working out,” Puig said. “It’s like you have to pay me to enter the gym.”
But Puig did, because he wants to steal more bases and he wants to limit the highs and lows of a six-month regular season. …
Jon SooHoo has more photos from the caravan at LA Photog Blog: first stop, second stop, third stop and fourth stop.
So what else is going on?
- The 45th annual convention of the Society of American Baseball Research is June 24-28 in Chicago, and if you go, you can catch the Dodgers playing at Wrigley Field June 24-25.
- Carl Erskine talked about Roy Campanella’s great work behind the plate with Rob Neyer at Fox Sports’ Just a Bit Outside.
- This headline should get you started: “On World War II vet’s last day, Dodger Tommy Lasorda was his angel,” by Dennis McCarthy for the Daily News.
- In MLB.com’s overall list of the top 100 prospects in baseball, Corey Seager was seventh, Julio Urias eighth and Joc Pederson 13th. Grant Holmes is 95th. Here’s more from Teddy Cahill of MLB.com.
- Pederson has gone gluten-free, and not by choice, writes J.P. Hoornstra at the Daily News.
- Keith Law’s take on the Dodger farm system can be found at ESPN Insider. After the same first four as MLB.com, the next six are Alex Verdugo, Zach Lee, Darnell Sweeney, Chris Anderson, Jose De Leon and Zach Bird.
- David Schoenfield of ESPN.com’s Sweet Spot looked back at Baseball America’s top prospects of 2005. Raise a glass for Joel Guzman.
- From official MLB historian John Thorn at Our Game: “Baseball, as with any other course of life, has had its share of death, degradation, and disappointment. For utter horror, however, the story of Marty Bergen, star catcher of the Boston Beaneaters, is unmatched in the annals of the sport.”
- Some last caravan tidbits …
