It is a question that has been on the minds of Dodgers fans for more than three years. On Monday afternoon, the question was finally answered.

The burning question? Why didn’t Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman re-sign eccentric – but popular – outfielder Yasiel Puig after the 2018 season, with the Cienfuegos, Cuba native having slashed .279/.353/.478/.831, with 129 doubles, 19 triples, 108 home runs, 60 stolen bases, and driving in 331 runs in his previous six seasons with the Dodgers?

The long-awaited answer?

Sexual assault. Three of them, in fact. Two in 2017 and a third in 2018.

This, verbatim, from Bleacher Report‘s Rob Goldberg (among others) on Monday afternoon:

“Former MLB All-Star Yasiel Puig was accused of sexual assault by two different women on consecutive days in January 2017 before reaching confidential settlements with both women, according to Gus Garcia-Roberts of the Washington Post.

“Puig denied the allegations, but his attorney, Scott Lesowitz, said he paid a total of $325,000 in the settlements.

“Major League Baseball knew of the allegations in 2017 but did not place the outfielder on administrative leave and closed the investigation without taking further action.

“No charges were filed in either case, but one woman did speak to police and name Puig before declining to pursue charges.

“She told police two days after the alleged assault that the two had consensual sex but afterwards “he grew enraged and began to strike, choke and bite her until she went into shock and nearly passed out.”

“The second woman said he pushed his way into her apartment and sexually assaulted her after a date.

“These accusations remained private as did a third accusation against Puig from a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her in October 2018. This allegation later became public after she filed a lawsuit against him in March 2021, although he also denied that claim.

That ‘Major League Baseball knew of the allegations in 2017 but did not place the outfielder on administrative leave and closed the investigation without taking further action’ thing is HUGE. Not only did it allow the (then) 27-year-old Puig, who was signed by the Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 2012, to continue to play for them in 2017 and 2018, it also allowed him to be traded to the Cincinnati Reds on December 21, 2018, with the Reds (apparently) unaware of the serious allegations against him. They did, however, trade him to the Cleveland Indians on July 31, 2019, following a Puig-instigated benches-clearing brawl against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park the night before.

Puig slashed .297/.377/.423/.800 with 22 home runs and 61 RBI in his 100 games with the Reds, and .253/.302/.475/.777 with two home runs and 23 RBI in his 49 games with the Indians. He did not play in 2020 due to the pandemic and remained an unsigned free agent in 2021 after the sexual assault allegations became known.

This past Thursday, it was reported that Puig had signed a one-year/$1 million contract to play for the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). And though Heroes ownership (Seoul Heroes, Co., LTD.) were undoubtedly well aware of the allegations against Puig when they signed him, it is probably safe to say that the one-time MLB All-Star played his final game on American (and Canadian) soil, when he went 0-for-3 against the Washington Nationals on September 27, 2019, at Nationals Park.

Play Ball!

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(Article revised 12-14-21)

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