Culver City Observer -

I was in the Dodger Stadium press box on a recent Sunday afternoon when Yasiel Puig was on second base.

The next batter hit a routine infield pop up, something we’ve ll seen at least a thousand times.

Nolan Arenado, the Colorado Rockies’ third baseman, pretended to lose the ball in the sunlight. Puig advanced halfway to third waiting to see what would happen. Arenando then caught the ball and flipped it to second for an easy double play.

I saw journalists throughout the press box asking each other “did we really see that”?

If the Dodgers trade Puig by the August 1 deadline, which they are considering, that play will remain prominent in my mind.

After breaking into the major leagues in 2013 in spectacular fashion Puig has stopped living up to the hype he created.

His hitting has declined and his inability to break a habit of throwing to the wrong base has become increasingly bothersome.

Right now he’s a .260 hitter without many home runs.

But here’s why I wouldn’t trade him. He won’t be a free agent until 2020, so what’s the hurry?

Also, he’s not the first young ballplayer who’s required more than a few years to eliminate bad habits. He’s only 25, with a lot of baseball years left.

The Dodgers sure could use a reliable starting pitcher, so that’s their temptation to dangle a talented player to various teams. They also could have a surplus of outfielders when Andre Either and Joc Pederson recover from injuries.

But the Dodgers made a mistake by not going hard enough for elite starting pitchers who were free agents prior to this season. Why punish Puig for their mistake?

There’s a lot of speculation in the media about Puig being traded. What I’m hearing is the topic is being discussed by the Dodgers’ huge department that includes seven former major league general managers but no conclusion has been reached yet.

I would give Puig one more year to convince the Dodgers to stick with him. His potential is enormous and this season he’s made an effort to train harder and lose weight. I think he’s a pretty good person.

Some bad habits are hard to overcome. Should Puig go to another team and blossom the Dodges would be sorry they didn’t wait.