Here are the 7 best fits for Yasiel Puig

The Wild Horse is ready to ride, but he doesn't have a destination just yet.

In case you forgot, free agent Yasiel Puig never signed with a team before the coronavirus pandemic caused the regular season to be delayed and led to a freeze on all transactions. On Tuesday, MLB announced a plan to return to play, with players expected to report for training by July 1 and a 60-game season anticipated to commence on July 23 and 24.

The transaction freeze will be lifted on Friday at noon ET, opening the door for Puig to possibly find a home before the regular season begins. And with the advent of the universal designated hitter for the 2020 campaign, there could be a few more fits for Puig now than there were during the offseason.

Puig expressed his excitement for baseball's impending return on Twitter following Tuesday’s announcement and supplemented his tweet with the hashtag #letthewildhorseloose.

The 29-year-old was a league-average hitter last season (100 OPS+), but he owns a lifetime 122 OPS+ and has chipped in 23 or more homers and 15-plus steals in each of the past three seasons.

Here are seven clubs that have an obvious need for the flamboyant outfielder.

Best fits

Giants
San Francisco was linked to its long-time nemesis during the offseason, and The Athletic’s Jim Bowden reported Tuesday that the club is expected to be a player for Puig once the transaction freeze is lifted. Signing Puig would make sense for the Giants, who currently have 37-year-old Hunter Pence penciled in to play right field. Pence made the American League All-Star team in 2019, but he played just 23 games defensively for the Rangers. San Francisco also could use Pence as its DH, with Alex Dickerson in left, Billy Hamilton in center and Mike Yastrzemski in right, but that would mean relying on the oft-injured Dickerson to stay healthy and Hamilton to hit enough to justify his position in the lineup.

D-backs
Arizona won 85 games in 2019, then bolstered its outfield with its trade for center fielder Starling Marte and the addition of free-agent right fielder Kole Calhoun. The team's designated-hitter options are uninspiring, however, as likely starting DH Jake Lamb has posted a 75 OPS+ over the past two years while also missing considerable time due to injuries. Kevin Cron could get a shot after hitting .331/.449/.777 with 38 homers at Triple-A Reno last season, but he's a 27-year-old with 78 career MLB plate appearances to his name. At the very least, Puig would be an upgrade over Calhoun, Lamb or left fielder David Peralta against southpaws, although it's worth noting that the Cuban slugger has fared better when facing same-sided pitchers during his career, recording a lifetime .845 OPS vs. righties and a .762 OPS vs. lefties.

Tigers
Coming off a 114-loss season, the second most in franchise history, the Tigers made a number of under-the-radar offseason moves to improve their offense, signing C.J. Cron, Jonathan Schoop, Cameron Maybin and Austin Romine. That said, the outfield remains a major area of need, as Christian Stewart, JaCoby Jones and Victor Reyes are all in line to handle prominent roles. With or without Puig, the Tigers are unlikely to make the postseason, even if they get aggressive with top pitching prospects Casey Mize (MLB’s No. 7 overall prospect), Matt Manning (No. 24) and Tarik Skubal (No. 46). But the right-handed slugger could bring more respectability to Detroit’s lineup and give the team another bat to potentially sell before the Aug. 31 Trade Deadline.

Cubs
After missing the postseason and parting ways with manager Joe Maddon last year, the Cubs had a quiet offseason, with Steven Souza Jr., Jason Kipnis and Jeremy Jeffress representing their biggest signings. Meanwhile, Chicago still has an unsettled center-field situation and now has to worry about filling the DH spot. Kyle Schwarber is an obvious choice for DH, but that would just create an opening in left field. The Cubs have Kris Bryant, Javier Báez, Anthony Rizzo and Schwarber under control for only one more season after this, as well as an aging rotation with no member under 30. This could be their best chance to win one more title with their current core, and Puig would help the cause.

Other possibilities

Angels
Is Jo Adell (MLB’s No. 6 prospect) ready to make a big league impact? The 21-year-old had an .834 OPS in the Minors overall last season, but a .676 mark with no home runs in 131 plate appearances at Triple-A. If the Halos think the answer is no, it would put more pressure on Justin Upton to rebound and for Brian Goodwin to build on his solid production (109 OPS+) at age 28 in 2019. It would be fun to see Puig back in SoCal, teaming up with Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani for a season.

Pirates
Pittsburgh arguably has the worst DH situation of any NL team, and its lineup lacks pop behind Josh Bell, who produced a career-high 37 homers, 37 doubles, 116 RBIs and 143 OPS+ last season. Bringing Puig on board would address both problems and give the Pirates some added depth in case Gregory Polanco doesn’t rebound from an injury-plagued 2019 campaign.

Rockies
After making no notable additions to a pitching staff that posted the worst ERA (5.56) in the NL last season, the Rockies will likely need to lean on their bats to earn a playoff berth in 2020. Colorado has a nice offensive nucleus made up of Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl, but it drops off after that. Nobody else on the club had an OPS+ over 88 in 2019.