The 23-year old is, however, going through the worst stretch of his career, slashing .195/.307/.537 over the past month. But he’s still maintained his knack for controversy, with the latest incident in the Chronicles of Yasiel having our hero arguing with Matt Kemp in the Dodgers dugout during their game against the Rockies.

As you can see, whatever Puig did to offend Kemp was discussed with manager Don Mattingly (and Puig’s interpreter.) After the game Mattingly refused to elaborate, calling it “family business.”

Speculation is Kemp was angry Puig — who is a fast runner — didn’t take third on an Adrian Gonzalez single which came right in front of Kemp’s plate appearance. The Dodgers won the game 11-3. There have been reports that the Dodgers dugout is “dysfunctional.” Mattingly responded to them be joking his team was “like the ’72 As,” who won their first of three straight World Series despite having a less than harmonious dugout.

Puig’s poor play of late has some calling him to be replaced in the lineup by well-paid bench piece Andre Either, stud rookie Joc Pederson or the unheralded Scott Van Slyke, who quietly has the best numbers of any member of LA’s famously crowded outfield.

So far Mattingly has been sticking with Puig, and the Wild Horse may be getting back on track; he’s 6-14 with two doubles over the last three games.

If he keeps hitting, this latest dust up will blow over. He reverts to his slump, it may be more ammunition for a change, as the Dodgers battle the Nationals for home field throughout National League post season.

Greinke, who is considered one of the league’s smartest and most interesting players, suggested that his brains aren’t necessarily working to his advantage when he’s on the mound.

“Baseball is a sport where being stupid and keeping things really simple a lot of times is the right way to do things,” he told The Times. “There are very few guys that are capable of processing a lot of information and applying it and still being good at it. … I don’t want to name names, but there were guys I played with that were so stupid that they’re really good, because their mind never gets in the way.”

Makes sense, really.  Baseball is an extremely complicated game and the ability to turn the noggin off  — or to never have it on in the first place — and let athleticism and muscle memory take over is probably helpful for overall performance.

Now the question becomes who was Greinke talking about when he mentions teammates who “were so stupid they’re really good.” We look back at Greinke’s 11-career and use wild speculation to reveal these talented dunces.

Kansas City 2004 – 2010
During Greinke’s KC career the Royals were pretty awful; they had the worst record in baseball over the time period. They didn’t have many players who could be described as “very good” outside of Greinke. But there were still a few that Greinke could have been talking about in the interview.

Mike Sweeney
The five-time All-Star was the Royals only good hitter during Greinke’s first couple of years in the league. He also was known as one of the friendliest people in the game and is prone to giving hugs. Hmmm. We’re not saying being super-duper-nice and childlike always correlates with a lack of intellect, but it is now awfully suspicious.

Billy Butler
Butler, the best hitter on the Royals toward the end of Greinke’s tenure with the team, is nicknamed “Country Breakfast.” Which is basically like calling somebody “Meat,” a moniker never bestowed on the class valedictorian. On the flip side, Butler has recently lost his ability to hit, despite being in the prime of his career, suggesting he may have some destructively complicated thoughts in that sausage brain of his.

Joakim Soria
Closers are usually in high-pressure situations. So it’s best not to have too many thoughts in their head. Soria was about the best ninth-inning man in baseball during his KC career and is now a suspect for extreme stupidity.

Milwaukee 2011-2012
Carlos Gomez
The centerfielder has done a lot of stupid things during his career, and like they say about those who walk like ducks. (Or flip their bats on balls that stay in the park like them.)

Ryan Braun
The aggressive, character witness-laden PR campaign Braun waged after first testing positive for PEDs was pretty idiotic considering he knew very well he was guilty.

Prince Fielder
A smarter man lays off the snacks and has a longer, even more lucrative career.

Los Angeles Angles 2012
Lot’s of intriguing potential idiots, from Mike Trout to Albert Pujols to Torii Hunter. But Grienke was barely on the Angels for two months, so we doubt he had enough time to make proper IQ assessments.

Los Angeles Dodgers 2013-2014
Matt Kemp
Kemp believes he should be playing centerfield. That shows the kind of lack of self-awareness often found in the very simple.

Yasiel Puig
Yes, he’s young and in a foreign land. But so are a lot of other baseball players and they manage to do a lot fewer stupid things.

Clayton Kershaw
Actually, we’re pretty sure Greinke was talking about Kershaw. He’s just jealous of the left-hander and his brain that is so brilliantly uncluttered by thought.

The blast helped the A’s break their four game losing streak, which had included a 29 inning scoreless stretch. Dunn finished the day with 2 for 3 with one of his signature walks.

”That’s the most excited, anxious, probably call it a little nervous, than I’ve been in a long time,” Dunn said after the game, The 34-year old, who says his going to retire after the season, has played the most games of any current player without making the playoffs.

The Big Donkey was one of a handful of potential impact players moved between the non-waiver period and the postseason roster deadline. Below are the other big August acquisitions. Let us know which when you think will make the biggest difference in the playoff race.

Roberto Hernandez
The Dodgers gave up two fairly significant prospects to get the artist formally known as Fausto Carmona from the Phillies at the beginning of the month. It turned out it was a move of necessity; Josh Beckett was ruled out for the year soon after they made the deal. Hernandez had been solid in his first four starts with Los Angeles, however he did get hit around in his last appearance. He had been pitching fairly well in Philly before coming over so expect him to be decent down the stretch, but still unlikely to be called upon for any postseason starts.

Jonathan Broxton
One of the better setup men in the game, despite a rapidly declining K-rate, Broxton moved to the Brewers on August 30th. Yesterday the Brewers fell out of first place in the AL Central for the first time this year. If Broxton can team with closer Francisco Rodriguez to form a shutdown backend that gets Milwaukee back into first, the trade will be worth it. The downside is the Brewers are on the hook for Broxton’s $9 million salary in 2015. However, K-Rod is a free agent to be, so they could en up moving Broxton and his closer salary to the ninth inning next year.

Matt Thornton
Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. The Nationals acquired lefty  reliever Matt Thornton from the Yankees on August 5th, and since then the big fella has been doing what he does best; getting left-handed hitters out. In fact, Thornton has yet to give up a run in his 11 appearances for the Nats.

Josh Willingham
The Royals sit a half-game up on Detroit in the AL Central and are two games clear in the Wild Card race. They’re just four weeks away from being the surprise playoff team of the year and their mid-August acquisition of Willingham may go a long way to getting them there. The underrated 35-year old has .OPSed .866 since coming over from Minnesota, and given punch to a fairly punchless Royals lineup. He’s missed the last few games with a sore ribcage and KC needs him back ASAP.

Gordon Beckham
Beckham hasn’t hit much since his rookie year in 2009. But the 27-year old can play second and third and is a decent enough hitter against lefties. The Angels will make the postseason, the question is will it be as a division winner or wild card team. It’s a big difference, and even a utility player like Beckham can be the difference maker.

Other August editions who can make an impact: Josh Outman, Alejandro De Aza, Kelly Johnson, Kevin Correia, Geovany Soto.

Lefty Smith is an extreme pull hitter, so he’s seen shifts before. But nothing like this one, which called outfielder Andre Ethier into the infield so he could join Adrian Gonzalez, Dee Gordon and Miguel Rojas on the right side. Third baseman Justin Turner stayed at home in case of a bunt.

Dodger manager Don Mattingly turned to the previously unseen tactic with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th. Smith ended up grounding to Gordon, who fired home and got the force on the runner. The next batter Yasmani Grandal then won the game with a single.

It’s possible the Dodgers would have been better off trying for an inning ending double play, given were Smith ended up hitting the ball.  That they weren’t able to has more to do with playing the infield in, rather than stacking up on the right side.

Hitting is way down in baseball, with MLB’s overall on-base percentage at its lowest point since 1973.  The explosion of infield shifts that has occurred over the last several years has likely contributed to this decline.

Some have called for rules limiting how many fielders a team can play on one side of the infield. Do you agree that shifts have gone too far, or are the just the next step in baseball’s strategic evolution?

Back then Colon was an out-of-the-Major-Leagues 37-year old. He had had a nice career — including a Cy Young — but it was clearly over. In one of baseball’s oddest comeback tales (complete with a suspension for PEDs) Colon has been 48-35 with a 3.44 ERA for three teams between 2011-2014.

Although he hasn’t really been that terrific this year. In 2014, a 3.82 ERA when you call Citi Field home is below average. However, he’s still a horse who takes the ball every five days, throws strikes, and generally gives the team a chance to win. For that reason, the Dodgers, Angels and Royals are said to be pursuing the 41-year old, who has cleared waivers.

Colon has a couple million left on his contractt his season and will then make $11 million next year when he is 42. For that reason, that Mets can’t expect much for him in return.

At the same time, it would be unlikely New York just dumps Colon.

The Angels have the biggest need for Colon, after losing Tyler Skaggs and Garrett Richards for the season this month. Their farm system is famously bereft of prospects, but they should still be able to put together they kind of package that allows the Mets to save face in a deal.

The downside to LA would be the $11 million they owe Colon in 2015. This is already a team that is shelling out $49 million next year to the rapidly decaying duo of Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols.

But they are also in a tight battle with one of Colon’s old teams, the A’s, for the AL West. The winner likely gets home field for the entire post-season while the loser has to test their luck in the Wild Card play-in game. That’s a big enough difference to pay up in 2015.

The team most likely to block the Angels by offering more for Colon is the other LA team. Even more so if the Dodgers hadn’t loaded up on pitching — Roberto Hernandez and Kevin Correia — earlier in the month. They’be also had their injuries, but with Hyun-jin Ryu looking like he may return soon, they may not have an immediate need for another starter.

There has also been talk of Colon to the Royals. However, we’re not seeing that; KC doesn’t seem like the kind of franchise to take on $11 million worth of obese 42-year old in 2015.

Then there is the reality that any of the these teams could have claimed Colon and didn’t, perhaps fearful the Mets would dump all of his salary on them. This suggests they would only do a deal if salary relief is including.

So don’t be too shocked if August 31 comes and goes and Bartolo is still in Queens.

We know this because last Thursday the cameras caught him swinging a Yasiel Puig model bat during the Nationals game against the Mets. According to Harper, he got the bat from Puig. He’s been hot lately, in what has been a disappointing season overall, so he’s been sticking with the Cuban import‘s lumber.

Harper told the Washington Post he’s long used bats with other players names etched on them, adding he’s swung Chase Utley, Mike Trout, Troy Tulowitzki, David Wright, Buster Posey, Robinson Cano, Todd Helton, Melky Cabrera and Miguel Cabrera models in the past. (It appears to the 21-year old has already learned to borrow from the best.)

His only rule is he won’t swing another man’s stick when he’s going against that player’s team. So if he’s still enthralled  the Puig model — the YP-66 — next week when the Dodgers come to town, he will simply send Puig’s bat to a custom manufacture like Chandler or Marucci and they will send him a bootlegged “Harper” model with the identical specs.

Harper also regularly switches bats game-to-game depending on the pitcher. He is so mercurial when it comes to his lumber he told the Post he doubts he’ll ever stick with a bat long enough for there to be an official BH-34 model that other players can borrow.

“It’d be good to have him back in there, honestly,” Dodgers manger Don Mattingly said before the game. “It changes the lineup from the standpoint of the length of it and the number of guys you have to go through just to navigate it. He’s a dangerous guy in that lineup, so it’s good to have him back.”

While Ramirez had been batting three in the Dodgers lineup before hitting the DL, Mattingly will ease him back into action by spotting him in the five spot for the time being. That should have no effect on his fantasy value.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro has been out since August 19th for a much sadder reason; he was back home in the Domincan Republic dealing with the death of a relative and three close friends in a car accident. He’s set to return from the bereavement list Tuesday and his fantasy owners hope Castro, who been OPSing .912 in August, picks up right where he left off.

Castro has had himself a nice bounce back season after struggling mighty in 2013. He’s the seventh ranked fantasy shortstop so far in 2013, topping Ramirez, among others. Not that many would have predicated that.

Sean Doolittle hits the DL strained right intercostal
A’s reliever Sean Doolittle — he of the .705 WHIP and 13.O Ks per 9 — was having himself quite a season. So much so that Oakland ignored his left-handedness and made him closer when Jim Johnson imploded. Now Bob Melvin and company are going to have to find themselves another closer, at least for the next 15 days.

Luke Gregerson is the best bet for that, spot and is worth an add in all leagues. Ryan Cook did close for the As for a good chunk of 2012 and, after an injured filled first half of the season, has looked quite closer-like. So don’t be too surprised if it’s a ninth inning time share, or even if Cook is given the bulk of the work

Gregory Polanco sent down
The Pirates probably did Gregory Polanco‘s fantasy owners a favor by sending him down to Triple-A yesterday. (And recalling Jose Tabata.) On the one hand, the uber-prospect’s power/speed combo makes him hard to rest. But, on the other hand, he was only hitting .222 with two homers over the past month. The 22-year old will be back in six days, when the rosters expand. And he could well turn it around, as the Cardinals equally shiny prospect  Oscar Taveras has been doing over the last couple weeks. But exploring other stolen base options in the meantime would be advisable.

It would behoove the Rangers, who unexpectedly have the worst record in the league, to work out a trade. Cotts, who will be a free agent after the season, hasn’t been quite as good as he was in 2013, when he posted a 1.11 ERA in 57 innings after a three-year hiatus from the Big Leagues. Still, the 34-year old has been effective this year, with a 3.48 ERA and a 3.17 FIP and would be of use to a contender like the Tigers or Dodgers who have problems in their bullpen. (But again, we don’t know who claimed him.)

Given that the Phillies were able to get a pretty decent prospect as their first of two players-to-be-named-later in their waiver deal of Roberto Hernandez to the Dodgers, the Rangers can expect to get at least one useful player for Cotts if they can work out a deal.

Rangers players who have cleared waivers, and are now clear to be traded to any team in either league, include Elvis Andrus, Alex Rios, Yu Darvish and Adrian Beltre.

While everyone expected Andrus and Rios to make it through, the lack of claims on Beltre and particularly Darvish are surprising. It’s possible that no team believed the Rangers would trade their ace Darvish (who also happens to be injured) or Beltre, their future Hall of Fame third baseman who’s playing some of the best baseball of his career at age 35 despite the Rangers struggles.

The first example of Puig’s coordination comes form the fifth inning of last night’s Dodgers match up with their SoCal rival Padres. In the fifth inning San Diego third baseman Yangervis Solarte sends a hard hit groundball into the right-center gap off of Keven Correia. Puig, who is playing center, cuts in front of Matt Kemp to field the ball. The 23-year old over runs the play a bit, but than casually fields the ball between his legs and fires it to second, holding the Solarte to a single.

You’re not impressed, you say. Just an example of a baseball player making a slight blunder and than recovering from it with the requisite athletic ability required to make one a highly paid athlete. Well, get a load of this, which happened in the dugout of the same game.

Puig has defeated the helmet, and the poor helmet didn’t even know they were playing. Also note the casual way he responds to his amazing reflexes. You’re not fooling us, Yasiel, we know you are smiling on the inside and possibly singing some sort of celebratory song in Spanish.

Now it’s up to the other National League MVP candidates like Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew McCutchen and Jonathan Lucroy to offer up a display of their extra-human senses. In 2014,  GIFs are at least as important as RBIs.

However, Trout has struggled in August, only slashing .234/.311/.438 and striking out 20 times. The Millville Meteor is still the favorite to win the award, as he is the American League leader in OPS+, is second in baseball in WAR, and his Angles now have best record in baseball.

But Trout snagging his first MVP after finishing runner up to Miguel Cabrera in 2012 and 2013 is not inevitability that it once was. Here are seven players who could steal the award from Trout and render the 23-year old a bridesmaid once again.

Josh Donaldson .252/.340/.466, 6.3 WAR
It’s Donaldson, not Trout, who is leading baseball in WAR. He gets a lot of his value from his slick glove at third, but he’s a pretty good hitter too, with his numbers’ somewhat surpassed by his cavernous home park. The mullet-ed slugger is the biggest bat in baseball best and most well-balanced lineup. If Oakland edges Anaheim in their dogfight for the AL West he could have a pretty good claim on the MVP hardware.

Robinson Cano .329/.399/.471, 5.2 WAR
His contract, which will be paying him $24 million a year when he’s 40, is still an abomination and a future albatross. But the second baseman is certainly earning his money in 2014. After a slow start, he’s been every bit the player he was in the Bronx and is a good bet to win the batting title — which still holds appeal for MVP voters. On the other hand, his run and RBI totals are a bit light. He needs a big finish and a Mariners playoff birth to really have a chance.

Felix Hernandez 13-4, 1.99 ERA, 197 Ks, 6.0 WAR
Much like the situation with the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw and Yasiel Puig, Cano’s biggest obstacle to the MVP may be the votes he splits with Felix Hernandez, the Mariner’s ace. Unlike with Kershaw, we can’t really get behind Hernandez for MVP. There are just too many offensive players having great years in the AL — including Cano — for a pitcher to win it. Nevertheless, Hernandez has been undeniable spectacular, and is the main reason the surprise Mariners are right in the playoff hunt.

Jose Abreu .302/.359/.591 3.8 WAR
On August 1, when Abreu was leading the league in homers and RBIs, was up to .310 and was threatening a Triple Crown, his candidacy for MVP was a bit more viable. He has no homers and only a .678 OPS since then. But he’s already shown in short MLB career that he can get really hot. So we’re not going to rule him out quite yet.

Nelson Cruz .260//320/.516, 3.8 WAR
While his PED-ties and one-dimensional game probably preclude Cruz for serious consideration, we still think he’s worth mentioning. He’s been a god-sent in the middle of the first place Orioles order — particularly given Chris Davis‘s struggles. At $8 million on a one year deal he’s also been by far the best bang-for-buck signing of 2014.

Michael Brantley .319/.378/.513, 4.9 WAR
All year Indians fans have been pointing out the statistical similarities between their centerfielder and the more famous one in Anaheim. Trout’s stats are a bit better at this point, but Brantley does have a chance to remedy that over the next six weeks. If that offensive surge also helps the Indians grab a playoff spot he will certainly put himself in the MVP conversation.

Jose Bautista .291/.408/.507, 4.1 WAR
Another player who is tethered to his team’s performance. If Bautista’s can lead the Blue Jays to the postseason he should receive serious MVP consideration. Although a big finish by the now-healthy Edwin Encarnacion — who currently leads the AL in .OPS — could catapult him in front of Bautista in the north-of-the-border MVP pecking order.