As the gardener Yasiel Puig remains unsigned and hoping to return to the major leagues, les allegations of sexual assault filed against him earlier this offseason continue to cloud his market. Both Andy McCullough of The Athletic and John Barr of ESPN discussed the situation and allegations in depth this week. McCullough spoke with Puig’s agent Rachel Luba, and Barr interviewed both the alleged victim and his brother.
Luba declined to comment on the ongoing litigation when The Athletic asked him, choosing instead to focus on the gardener’s baseball resume and desire to return to the game. No police charges or criminal charges have been filed against Puig, although he is the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by his accuser.
Barr’s report is the first indication that the league has investigated the matter, although a full investigation has not yet been conducted. As Barr details, the league informed the plaintiff and her attorney that it would not be possible to conduct further investigations because it has not yet provided her name.
She tells Barr that she prefers to keep her identity out of public reports on the matter because she runs a business in the Los Angeles area where she works with other professional athletes. For the purposes of the lawsuit against Puig and her interview with Barr, she is only referred to as “Jane Roe.”
The alleged incident, which is said to have occurred when Puig followed the woman to the bathroom in a 2018 Lakers game, is detailed in linked reports from ESPN and The Athletic.
Barr notes that court documents also detail a series of text messages from Puig to his accuser in the days following the Lakers game in question, in which Puig sought to arrange a private meeting between the two. The woman tells Barr that she doesn’t remember when she gave Puig her number, but that it wouldn’t have been unusual to do so for commercial reasons.
McCullough and colleagues Ken Rosenthal and Katie Strang point out that Puig’s side has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, assuming that publicizing the lawsuit while remaining anonymous only seeks to “condemn Mr. Puig to court of public opinion, before Mr. Puig even has a chance to defend himself. “
Plaintiff’s attorney describes the motion as a “barely guarded attempt by defendant Puig to humiliate, harass and punish” his client and pressure the woman to step down.
At this time, there is no indication of when a judge should decide on the lawsuit or motion to dismiss, yet Barr writes that the lawsuit itself is sufficient to deter many clubs from showing a legitimate interest in Puig.
Puig, 30, has been a lightning rod for controversy even before those allegations surfaced in November, and a chief office executive tells Barr that the teams simply don’t “want the evil of none “associated with signing it.
Puig has been arrested twice for reckless driving in the past, and has at times received discipline issued by the team for arriving late to the field, although Luba argues that it was due to an undiagnosed case of ADHD that is now being treaty.
The West Indies Puig has not played in a Major League Match since the end of the 2019 season, as a one-year deal with the Atlanta Braves last winter failed when Puig tested positive for Covid-19.