Former Dodgers star Yasiel Puig joins semi-pro baseball team while facing up to 15 years in prison
Imagine my shock once I fired up the ol’ web machine right this moment to see that Yasiel Puig he has signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
You keep in mind him — billed as MLB‘s subsequent humongous celebrity when the Los Angeles Dodgers first referred to as him up in 2013, after which he simply kind of light into obscurity.
Yes, that Yasiel Puig. But no, no these Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates operating to first base after hitting a three-run dwelling run in the sixth inning of Game Four of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Oct. 27, 2018. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The 35-year-old outfielder has signed with the Maple Leafs of the Canadian Baseball League, a semi-pro league primarily based in Ontario. But the transfer comes at a very messy time in Puig’s life.
Just two months in the past, Puig was found guilty of obstruction of justice and mendacity to federal investigators tied to an unlawful sports activities playing operation. He’s now facing up to 15 years in prison.
The case stems from a 2022 interview with investigators, the place Puig denied particulars about his involvement in the playing operation — together with who he was betting with and the way he dealt with his money owed.
That got here after he had already admitted to racking up greater than $280,000 in losses while inserting tons of of bets on sports activities like tennissoccer and basketball by way of a 3rd occasion tied to the operation.
So yeah, that is a tricky spot.
Former Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig stands together with his agent Lisette Carnet and lawyer Zen Crump outdoors the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Feb. 11, 2023. (Brian Van Der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Puig hasn’t appeared in an MLB sport since 2019, wrapping up a seven-year profession that began with a bang and slowly fizzled out. He burst onto the scene with the Dodgers in 2013, hitting .319 with 19 dwelling runs and ending second in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
At his peak, Puig was some of the electrical gamers in baseball — huge energy, a rocket arm and a diva angle. He made the All-Star team in 2014, bounced round a bit towards the top of his MLB run, after which finally disappeared from the league altogether.
Yasiel Puig of Tiburones de la Guaira reacts in the fifth inning of the Serie del Caribe 2024 sport between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic at loanDepot Park in Miami, Fla., on Feb. 1, 2024. (Luis Gutierrez/Norte Photo/Getty Images)
Now, I assume we’ll see if the man’s nonetheless obtained it.
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The (baseball) Maple Leafs open their season on May 10. Puig is scheduled for sentencing on May 26.
In different phrases, this comeback story could also be over earlier than it even begins.
