It's time for Yasiel Puig

On a day where the Dodgers looked lifeless and boring in a 7-2 loss to the Rockies, at least they did one thing right: Yasiel Puig has been promoted to the big club from Double-A Chattanooga.

With Matt Kemp on the 15-day DL, Carl Crawford nursing a left hamstring injury, and Andre Ethier about as lost and ineffective as one can possibly be, the Dodgers made it official after Sunday's game in Colorado.  There was some talk that it could be Tony Gwynn recalled, or even Joc Pederson, but Puig is the guy everybody wants to see, and here he is.

Who knows how long Puig will stay in LA, but this is clearly the right move to make. The Dodgers have ZERO punch in their lineup outside of Adrian Gonzalez, who is playing very well this season but isn't the big power threat of year's past.  This team only wins games by stringing together a bunch of hits, and definitely not by playing longball.  Puig was Mr. Everything in Spring Training, and is hitting .313 with 8 homers and 37 RBIs in 40 games this season.

As a fan, there's a couple of things I would like to see.  One is a combination of Puig and Scott Van Slyke playing together in the outfield.  In fact, I have no problem seeing Skip Schumaker out there with them as long as Crawford can't go, and definitely NOT Ethier.  For that matter, I would love to see Ethier's playing time drastically decrease.  None would be perfect for me.

The other thing we all have to be careful of is unrealistic expectations.  Look, I'm as excited as anyone to see what he can do.  But, let's not expect him to hit three home runs every game and be Manny Ramirez circa 2008.  There will be some growing pains along the way like there is for anybody.  There will also be plenty of fun moments as long as he gets the chance to perform.

In a disastrous season for the Dodgers, this is a positive step that needed to be taken, and I applaud them for it.  Let the boy play, force management to trade Ethier, and once (or if) guys like Kemp and Crawford get healthy, they can definitely make some noise in the second half... or even sooner.