So now everyone thinks Puig is arrogant and immature? Ridiculous.

I'm a huge fan, but I can see how he has some growing up to do. I like that he's an intense player, but some of his antics that result from that have rubbed people the wrong way (glove throwing, turf-punching, etc.). In the past, some guys played with chips on their shoulders and have not exactly embraced media attention (Albert Belle, anyone?), and their images suffered as a result. So, while media coverage of Puig has so far been pretty favorable, that exposure is showing people some things that can be taken as arrogant.

It must be so much fun to do interviews in a language you can barely/can't understand.

jbhofmann said:

It must be so much fun to do interviews in a language you can barely/can't understand.

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Agreed. How many foreign players are buddies with the media, and joke on camera? I can only think of one really. Ortiz. Outside of him, most just push to get through their interviews it seems. I can't blame them either. If I was playing in Japan I'd be screwed giving interviews, and trying to come off nice.

If he isn't speaking English he must be talking trash. Right?

Are people really upset that other people don't like Puig? Really? Is it because profits may suffer? I don't get it. Plenty of people on here kiss his ass, so if some people don't like him, it balances out.

Honestly, I don't like him and it has nothing to do with his performance. He plays for the Dodgers. The Reds and Dodgers were rivals for years in the NL West, so I don't like the Dodgers. It's that simple for me. Make no mistake, I appreciate what he's doing for the game. Anything that attracts more fans is always a plus. Whether he is a flash in the pan or becomes a superstar, he has helped MLB this season. He's Top 10 in jersey sales. He's got plenty of fans/supporters with or without us.

So call me a hater or whatever, I couldn't care less. Just like Puig couldn't care less if muskiesfan wants to ******* him like so many others do.

Perhaps a worthwhile read: Y! SPORTS

Good timing, considering this discussion.

jaydub said:

The only thing people enjoy more than building someone up is taking them down...

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And there's the entertainment value......

jaydub said:

The only thing people enjoy more than building someone up is taking them down...

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This is so true of the media in particular, especially when the person in question started from nothing or almost nothing.

Its like the media gets upset at the person who didn't 'return the love' or meet expectations the media set up.

He is young so he is immature. And comes from a country that does not have a lot of opportunities for them to excel. So he may be arrogant. So what's the problem. Give him time to be coached on how to handle the media and what to say and what not to say, he he will not be out of flavor.

muskiesfan said:

Are people really upset that other people don't like Puig? Really? Is it because profits may suffer? I don't get it. Plenty of people on here kiss his ass, so if some people don't like him, it balances out.

Honestly, I don't like him and it has nothing to do with his performance. He plays for the Dodgers. The Reds and Dodgers were rivals for years in the NL West, so I don't like the Dodgers. It's that simple for me. Make no mistake, I appreciate what he's doing for the game. Anything that attracts more fans is always a plus. Whether he is a flash in the pan or becomes a superstar, he has helped MLB this season. He's Top 10 in jersey sales. He's got plenty of fans/supporters with or without us.

So call me a hater or whatever, I couldn't care less. Just like Puig couldn't care less if muskiesfan wants to ******* him like so many others do.

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I respect your side of course. But do you really want to ******* him?

muskiesfan said:

He's Top 10 in jersey sales. He's got plenty of fans/supporters with or without us

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This is completely unrelated, but I saw that list in the last day or 2 as well and was surprised by how high Molina is on that list. I know Cards fans probably buy more jerseys than any other fan base and he must get a ton of support from the Puerto Rican community but still surprised. I guess I didn't figure he was that much "the man" currently in St. Louis. Sorry, carry on

alexs64 said:

I respect your side of course. But do you really want to ******* him?

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:lol: Good twist and it does sound funny.

It's obvious who the people are that are so far up this kid's ass it's not funny. By constantly shoving Puig down people's throats, they're doing more harm than good. No matter how good he is or ends up being, the fact that people feel the need to brow beat the XXXX out of everyone about him doesn't help endear him to others.

I'm a huge fan of my favorite teams and players and I have been for a lot of years. However, I talk less about them than a lot people do the "next big thing". It just gets irritating after awhile.

I saw him play @ Coors Field a couple of weeks ago - he reminded me big time of Albert Belle. That said his talent sure seems amazing, and he's a freaking giant body wise for his age. When he failed at anything he seemed to almost pout - and the pouting body language from a big man is a 1000x easier to see than from any other player.

moxacaine said:

The difference between Bryce and Puig is that Bryce knows dealing with the media is part of the game. Puig on the other hand cries that he wants the media to leave him alone.

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Harper knows how to deal with the media because the media has been up his ass most of his baseball life. On the other hand, Puig has only recently been exposed to this massive crush of interviews and cameras. Yes, he appears arrogant and brash now, but let's give him a little time to adjust to this new world he finds himself in. It may be that his true character really is front and center already, but it may also be that he's simply young, immature and overwhelmed by it all.

rum151man said:

It's mainly jealousy, Haters gunna hate

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/thread

Weren't people first griping that he was too fresh or rookie to be in the All-Star game and said he hadn't earned anything yet? But now they're using that assesment of him to beat him over the head again? If you already think/know he's young and doesn't deserve the respect yet and think he needs ot prove something, why do you get to come right back at him and XXXXX that he hasn't learned how to play the game like an "adult". Adults, BTW, who throw temper tantrums and lip off to other adults in the game (I'm looking at YOU Carpenter, among others).

arhodge13 said:

Perhaps a worthwhile read: Y! SPORTS

Good timing, considering this discussion.

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A pretty neutral article on the balance.

I have my take which starts back last summer. My family lives in Phoenix and due to health issues with my mom, I was back there shortly after Puig made his debut in the AZL. I got see Puig play and asked for and got an autographed ball. He was 'just another guy' to some degree then with no track record yet and no one else there seemed to know who he was. I next saw him in spring training. I was there before any games were played around the time the position players reported. The Dodgers camp gets rather busy with fans and autograph seekers so crowds were big from the get go. In those first couple of days while many people still didn't know who he was, he stopped and signed autographs longer than any other player even lingering after the staffers at Camelback Ranch wanted to close down access. I saw him give his bat to a little kid on one of these days.

Fast forward to the latter part of spring training. Once Puig started to play and had those big ST numbers it was rather different. Now a lot more people knew who he was and he had much bigger crowds around him. He still signed for as many fans as he could.

The bat flips I can understand irritates some. That's sort of a long standing no-no and it's something he'll be forced to reign in. But the rest of the criticism I just don't get. The guy plays all out every day and has made a number of outstanding plays. With the bat he was on an unreal tear but as teams figure out that throwing down the middle is a bad idea, he's having to adjust. I don't care if his hype went so high that the backlash is coming as he settles down to a more realistic batting line. Intelligent fans know that his true line isn't > .400. So people starting to dig into him because he's NOT hitting like a madman now are just dumb sorry to say.

As for the media stuff I think the reason that's so overplayed is because reporters themselves. The easiest story for a reporter to write is the one about the guy who blows them off (in their mind). The media likes insert themselves into the story all too often. Puig will have to be more media friendly for sure but it's different coming from Cuba with a repressive regime and state run media (which he tried to defect from 7 or 8 times) to the US media where - especially when there is hype - you are expected to spend all your waking moments talking to reporters (oh and when you can't speak the language, expect stuff to be lost in translation).

Those who have remarked about Harper I do see the parallels. There was a lot of blowback against Harper too as the ultimate example of hype, overhype, resentment about this or that. But the guy plays the game all out and has had success and most of those haters seem to have come around. Ask yourself, if Puig were to respond to the media with 'that's a clown question bro' what the response be? I would bet he'd be torn apart. Harper would have too if he had done that earlier in his period of hype. When Harper did say that, he had already started to win over people with his play and it's my feeling that before too long, Puig will win over people simply by his hard nose play.

I was going to basically say some of the same stuff in the Yahoo article. None of us can imagine the life experiences he has been through and most of us can't imagine the difficulty of the language/culture barrier. Maybe he is an arrogant bastard but I don't think anyone can really know that at this point. But that approach doesn't sell papers. He didn't warrant the hero treatment the past month and he doesn't deserve the disdain being thrown his way now. I'm not naive enough to think this cycle will ever change though.

I think the treatment of hispanic ballplayers by the media, fans, and even MLB is generally pretty bad. MLB has finally started putting some effort into acclimating these guys but it still falls short IMO. A guy from Japan comes over here and they give him an interpreter and life assistance. A guy from the Domincan comes over and he gets a per diem.

Brett Lawrie's act is even more immature and arrogant, and he's been in the league longer.

Puig is incredible.

When youre hitting .500, the best player on the team, throwing people out at first, stretching singles to doubles, getting big hits, big blasts, no says XXXX.

But go into a slump & the above disappears, now youre a punk.