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Yasiel Puig was benched for being late to today’s home opener against the Giants and will be replaced in the lineup by Matt Kemp, who was just activated off the DL for today’s game.
How late was he? Late enough to miss batting practice.
Yasiel Puig was so late to the field, he missed his BP rotation. #dodgersopener
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) April 4, 2014
Almost a couple hours then. Not helping himself.
This is not exactly a new thing for Puig, as the tardiness issue dates back to the reason he was benched last season.
I suspect many fans will not be happy about this, but while I love Puig and believe stuff involving him gets played up all the time, I support Don Mattingly in this decision. This is not the same as Bill Plaschke literally fabricating things to complain about, as Puig’s consistent tardiness in the face of the rest of the clubhouse is an issue that should be punished, and Mattingly has to think about the rest of the team.
Maybe there’s a reason for this, but if it was valid, surely Mattingly and staff would have understood. So for now, we can only hope that he fixes this issue going forward so it doesn’t become more of a problem.
