Well at least if you are lucky enough to have him on your Farm or Reserve squad. But what about those of us in leagues where he was available?

As I noted in a forum thread, the only question about whether Yasiel Puig (prn -pweeg) was an “All In” player in any given free agent pool is whether he will continue to get at-bats once Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier are all available in who knows how many weeks?

But over the weekend, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told reporters that GM Ned Colletti told him to “play the players that give you the best chance of winning a game.”

While no one expects Puig to hit .400 every week, it is hard to believe there is a game where he doesn’t improve the Dodgers' lineup. Vin Scully, who has been with the Dodgers longer than most of you have been on the planet, had an interesting observation over the weekend, saying that in one week Puig had shown off all five tools and that even really dramatic players often take a month to get a chance to show they excel in all those things.

In addition to the average, Puig hit four home runs and had ten RBI, both of which tied the major league record for a player's first five games. While he hasn’t stolen a base yet, Puig has shown his speed on the bases and in the field. He also had two memorable assists from right field, throwing back to first to double off a runner and then launching a missile to third base to get another runner.

So yeah, the guy who hit over .500 in spring training and over .300 at Double-A Jacksonville before being called up last Monday is a pretty good player. What does that mean for fantasy owners? And how much did it cost to roster him this weekend if in fact he was available?

Well, in the JBL league, which is one of our first draft prep articles of the year giving subscribers pick-by-pick selections for 30 rounds (paralleling the NFBC) and where Todd and I comment on each of our picks, Puig went for $625.

In the NFBC Main Event leagues which drafted late in March, he was rostered in every one of those leagues after his spring training performance. His owners were looking for a lottery ticket this year after Bryce Harper and Mike Trout helped so many teams last year. But in two “super” leagues ($5000 entry) where he was available, he went for $425 and $560. And in 57 NFBC Online Championship leagues (12-team leagues), he went for an average of $469. In fact, most all of those bids were between $300-700 with only four bids exceeding that – three in the 700's and one at $900; and only four bids lower than $300, the lowest at $212.

In the FBPC main event where Greg Morgan and I pilot the “Captain Morgan” team, we had rostered Puig at the March (online) draft. And inserting him last week helped us move into first place, as homers and runs were our weakest categories.

In a “First Pitch” satellite for that competition that drafted online in mid-January, Puig was not drafted. While we were short on FAAB, our $263 was higher than most of our competitors and I suggested we block all the teams we could with a bid of $245. In that league we were low in HR and RBI and I thought this would be our best shot at improving in those areas. We were lucky that none of the owners who were back in the pack and had bigger purses were interested, and won at $245. The underbid was $180, so we spent more than we had to but I would have felt worse if we were just a little short on a lower bid. So we hope that by inserting him into the lineup this week, and hopefully keeping him there, we can gain a few needed points and get to 2nd place. We have been shifting between 2nd and 4th throughout the first few months.

It should be noted that in the two NL keeper leagues I play in, Puig was rostered as a minor leaguer in the first week in April.

I hope that many of you were able to draft or add him – he is a fun player to watch burst onto the scene, much like Mike Trout was last year. {jcomments on}