Dodgers chairman: I don't think we're moving Puig

Though Yasiel Puig's name surfaced continuously in trade rumors Friday night, team chairman Mark Walter said he expects the divisive 25-year-old to be in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform following Monday's non-waiver trade deadline.

"I don't think we're moving him," Walter told reporters ahead of the Dodgers' series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chavez Ravine. "I don't think we want to. I still think he’s got a lot of potential."

According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, however, the Dodgers have been trying to attach Puig - omitted from the starting lineup for a seventh straight game Friday due a wonky hamstring - in the deals they've proposed, while Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times also reported that the club has expressed a willingness to part with the former All-Star.

The subject of trade speculation this past winter, too, Puig is currently mired in the worst season of his polarizing four-year tenure in Los Angeles, with a career-worst .693 OPS (89 OPS+) and just seven home runs through 79 games. Over the last two years, while hampered by recurring hamstring problems, Puig has managed just 1.8 WAR and a .726 OPS - a massive drop-off from the .888 OPS he posted across his first two years with the club.