You must read of Yasiel Puig’s Journey to the United States

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Prepare to read a tale that has a little bit of everything: Cubans, smuggling, cigarettes, cocaine, guns, Miami mob-men, smuggling, guns, betrayal, smuggling, and mischief.

It’s the story that is all the buzz right now around baseball – Yasiel Puig’s defection to the United States from Cienguegos done by Scott Eden over at ESPN.

I already liked Yasiel Puig. I think he’s got a walnut for a brain – but I like Yasiel Puig. I turn on my television at night and I see a guy who; if he can manage to get up and brush his teeth and get through the afternoons like a normal human being, I think he could end up one of the greats of this era. This story endears Puig a little bit more to me.

I think about something different than most people do, and it was on my mind prior to reading Don Mattingly’s comments about it today. Here you have a 23-year old kid who is playing and living each day possibly in fear for his life. A kid who promised some shady character(s) 20 percent of his earnings and has to deal with that stress.

If it seems at times Puig’s mind is on 100 other things aside from baseball, it’s entirely possible after reading this story that you will understand why.

I don’t know how this story ends, but I hope it’s not with fast cars or guns and it’s with Puig having his face on a plaque someday.