Has Puig changed? Dodgers will find out soon

DENVER — Meanwhile, back at the ballpark, the Dodgers were focused Wednesday on trying to maintain their slim lead over the Giants in the National League West, looking for a way to end the franchise’s 27-year World Series championship drought.

Yasiel Puig? He is still with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate at Oklahoma City, still in the headlines after reports that a mystery team placed a waiver claim on him, but truth be told, he is not likely to be going anywhere unless it’s a September callup to the Dodgers.

A callup could come as early as Thursday, when the active rosters expand from 25 players to 40, but Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said no decision has been made on Puig’s situation, and before any decision is made, there will be a closed-door meeting with Puig.

What is known is that the Dodgers aren’t expecting any last-second deal that would have Puig changing organizations this season. Yes, he was put on waivers. Yes, it became headlines because earlier in the month Puig was demoted to Triple-A. And yes the rumblings flared up Tuesday night because reports surfaced that another team had put in a waiver claim.

No, that is not necessarily a big deal, not in August.

“It’s a formality, all players go through it, and it rarely results in a trade,” Friedman said of the process in August.

Here’s the deal. After the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline, teams have to get waivers on players to be able to trade them. As a result, teams ask for waivers on virtually every player on their roster just so they have flexibility if something comes up.

Rarely does the public find out a player was claimed, because teams normally withdraw …

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