{"id":623439,"date":"2026-04-23T14:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623439\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:25:08","slug":"cbls-maple-leafs-sign-former-mlb-slugger-puig-to-largest-contract-in-league-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623439\/","title":{"rendered":"CBL\u2019s Maple Leafs sign former MLB slugger Puig to largest contract in league history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former MLB slugger Yasiel Puig is coming to Toronto. <\/p>\n

The Canadian Baseball League\u2019s Toronto Maple Leafs, who play their home games at Christie Pits Park, have signed Puig to a contract for the 2026 season, the team announced.<\/a> <\/p>\n

According to the Toronto Star, the contract is the largest in league history. Details of the contract were not disclosed. <\/p>\n

Puig will be in the starting lineup for the Maple Leafs on Opening Day on May 10. <\/p>\n

The 35-year-old native of Cuba hasn\u2019t played in the MLB since 2019 when he appeared in 149 games split between the Cincinnati Reds<\/a> and Cleveland Guardians<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Puig spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>, spending six years with the organization from 2013 to 2018. The outfielder was named an All-Star in 2014, finishing the season with a .296 average alongside 16 home runs and 69 RBIs. <\/p>\n

Maple Leafs CEO Keith Stein is excited to have Puig on the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think he\u2019s the most exciting player in men\u2019s baseball who\u2019s not playing in MLB right now,\u201d Stein told the Star.<\/a> \u201cAnd we think he\u2019s better than a lot of guys who are in MLB, so we can\u2019t believe our good fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over 861 career games in the MLB, Puig posted a .277 average with 132 homers and 415 RBIs. <\/p>\n

Since leaving the Majors, Puig has spent time playing pro baseball in Mexico, South Korea and, most recently, in the Venezuelan Winter League.<\/p>\n

Puig has had numerous off-field issues, including allegations of sexual assault. Puig denied the allegations and settled the lawsuits out of court. <\/p>\n

In February of this year, Puig was found guilty of making false statements and obstructing justice as part of an investigation into an illegal gambling operation. <\/p>\n

Formerly known as the Intercounty Baseball League, the 107-year-old league was rebranded this off-season and is now known as the Canadian Baseball League. <\/p>\n

The Welland Jackfish won the league title last season. The Maple Leafs haven\u2019t won a championship since 2007, their eighth championship season in franchise history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former MLB slugger Yasiel Puig is coming to Toronto. The Canadian Baseball League\u2019s Toronto Maple Leafs, who play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[712,49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-623439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}