Yasiel Puig of Tiburones de la Guaira of Venezuela licks his bat in the fifth inning of a game between Venezuela and Dominican Republic at loanDepot park as part of the Serie del Caribe 2024 on February 1, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Luis Gutierrez/Norte Photo/Getty Images)
Within the last 24 hours, Yasiel Puig‘s winter plans may have changed.
On Tuesday, reports suggested that the former Major Leaguer was not returning to the Tiburones de La Guaira in the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, but conflicting reports indicate that Puig may yet return to the Tiburones this winter.
On August 16, El Carabobeno, a local news outlet in Venezuela’s state of Carabobo, reported that Puig wasn’t coming back to the Tiburones.
Three days later, Yusseff Diaz of Pelota Cubana USA posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the Tiburones approached Puig and he will travel to Venezuela to negotiate a potential contract in the near future.
Update: Yasiel Puig no estaba en los planes de los @Tiburonesbbc_, pero en las últimas 24 horas me llegó vía una fuente que hubo un acercamiento entre los Tiburones y el jugador. En el futuro muy cercano Puig viene a Venezuela para reunirse con el dueño del equipo para hablar… pic.twitter.com/k8N7NdbPoL
— Yusseff305 🇨🇺🇺🇲 (@yusseff305) August 20, 2024
Similarly, Luis Alfredo Alvarez of ESPN posted on X that Puig “will be with the Tiburones de La Guaira in 24-25.”
“El Caballo” Yasiel Puig, estará con Tiburones de La Guaira en la 24-25 #Fuentes #Asere
— LuisAlfredoAlvarez®️ (@LuisAlvarez_1) August 19, 2024
The Tiburones are owned by Wilmer Ruperti, a wealthy Venezuelan shipping magnate with close ties to the regime of Nicolas Maduro.
Puig, 33, started the winter league season with the Estrellas Orientales in LIDOM, appearing in 18 games for the Estrellas, and batting .250/.308/.333 with one home run and six RBI. He spent the second half of the 2023-24 winter season with the Tiburones, who won both the LVBP title and the 2024 Caribbean Series title, posting a spectacular .418/.518/.846 batting line with a 1.364 OPS during the regular season and hitting .182/.333/.364 with two RBI and a .634 OPS in the Caribbean Series for La Guaira, hitting a tape-measure homer to left field in a 3-1 win against the Dominican Republic’s Tigres del Licey that went 436 feet and landed in the left field concourse at loanDepot Park in Miami.
This past summer, Puig played for El Aguila de Veracruz in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, batting .314/.410/.610 with a 1.020 OPS 18 homers and 43 RBIs in 64 games. He was not selected in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico’s foreign draft, which would make him a free agent in Mexico’s winter circuit.
Puig last appeared in Major League Baseball with Cleveland in 2019, and has appeared in 861 MLB games, batting .277/.348/.475 and hitting 132 homers with Cleveland, Cincinnati, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The pendency of criminal charges against Puig related to gambling are likely the reason that Puig has not returned to Major League Baseball, despite rumors that the Tampa Bay Rays and other teams were interested in the Cuban slugger.
Some MLB teams have expressed interest in Yasiel Puig, per sources.
Puig's status has taken a turn in the last month. The Tampa Bay Rays are one of the teams that have been looking at Puig.
The Wild Horse is one of the best hitters in the Winter Ball season with .360 AVG, 12… pic.twitter.com/GGUsxC4q4a
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) January 8, 2024
Late in 2022, Puig reached an agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to one count of lying to federal investigators during an investigation into an illegal gambling ring in southern California. Puig’s guilty plea was later vacated by the court, and the case remains pending.
A trial date was scheduled for Jan. 16, 2024 before Judge Dolly M. Gee in the United States District Court for the Central District of Calif., but has been put off while the U.S. Attorney’s Office appeals a ruling that Puig did not violate his plea agreement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which encompasses California, has yet to decide the appeal.
