Dodgers News: Yasiel Puig Takes Major Drop in ESPN Rankings

Despite what’s been a mostly strong Spring Training for Yasiel Puig, ESPN apparently is not buying the positive press. They’re doing that thing ESPN likes to when actual news gets slow where they arbitrarily rank players and make major statements about guys who regularly make news.

Lakers fans are all too familiar with this given ESPN’s relationship with Kobe Bryant and this time the easy target appears to be Puig, who garners interest simply by changing up his grocery shopping list.

ICYMI: DODGERS PUPPIES

Here is ESPN’s list and below is what they said about Puig.

— Yasiel Puig was the only player in last year’s top 25 to drop out of the top 100.Jonathan Lucroy dropped from No. 24 to No. 100

Another note I found interesting is Zack Greinke taking a pretty significant jump (as detailed below) when the only major change in the season is the park in which he’ll be pitching. Yes, the cavernous ballpark the Diamondbacks use might make a difference, but this is quite a jump.

— Others players that made big jumps: Bryce Harper (No. 34 to No. 2); Zack Greinke (No. 29 to No. 6); Josh Donaldson (No. 25 to No. 7); Manny Machado (No. 59 to No. 18); Nolan Arenado (No. 77 to No. 24); Jacob deGrom (No. 88 to No. 30)

The others listed are younger and appear ready to launch into the atmosphere of MLB superstardom, whereas Greinke has pretty much always been really good and probably won’t get significantly better.

At the end of the day, rankings are rankings. I could compile a list based on what I value in a player it would be completely different from so-and-so’s or whatever. In the end, it’s about the conversation these lists get started. It’s just on us to take into account why certain players and teams are treated as they are.