Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: John Maffei Explains Yasiel Puig ROY Ballot Snubbing

Among all the awards baseball hands out during the off-season, the awards that hold the most merit are the BBWAA ones. NL and AL Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year and MVP fall under that category and the Rookies of the Year were announced today.

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Wil Myers took home the award in the AL and Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez beat out Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig and pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu in the NL. Puig was on 29 of the 30 ballots cast with UT San Diego writer John Maffei being the lone person to not put him on the ballot.



Talking to Bill Shaikin of the LA Times, Maffei explained his decision to keep Puig off the ballot:

A second baseman hit 23 home runs and played great defense. Maybe Puig’s antics were in the back of my mind, but I really think the guy [Gyorko] deserved a third-place vote. I just felt he deserved it, not that Puig didn’t.

From the sound of things, Maffei knew Puig would place high in the voting and wanted to reward Gyorko for his 2013 season since he covers him on a daily basis.

While giving a nod to Gyorko with a third-place vote is nice and all, Puig should’ve finished ahead of Cardinals rookie Shelby Miller on Maffei’s ballot in any event. Regardless, Puig and Ryu had a good showing with a second and fourth place finish in ROY voting, but leaving the 22-year-old outfielder off one of the ballots, ridiculous.

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ICYMI: The Mets could be targeting two of the Dodgers high-priced outfielders this winter.

Ross Gasmer

Ross Gasmer is a Social Media Producer for @TheHerd and was a contributing writer and editor for Dodger Nation. Follow him on Twitter @Ross_Gasmer12

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