LOS ANGELES -- If the Dodgers are on the verge of trading outfielder Yasiel Puig, chairman and controlling owner Mark Walter said it's news to him.
"I haven't heard anything about moving Yasiel," Walter said a few minutes after chatting with Puig by the cage during batting practice Friday. "I don't think we want to. He has a lot of potential."
Puig's name has surfaced lately as one player the Dodgers would be willing to move leading up to Monday's non-waiver Trade Deadline. His name surfaced again Friday in increasing chatter about a three-way trade that would bring slugging Cincinnati right fielder Jay Bruce to the Dodgers.
Walter said he's been impressed with the club's recent charge, which sliced the deficit from eight games to two behind the Giants.
"I think we're doing fine," he said. "If any other team had the injuries we've had, they wouldn't even be close, I don't think. We have guys coming back, too."
Walter also said the impasse keeping Dodgers games from being broadcast to a large section of Southern California has bothered him "a ton," but he's hopeful it will be resolved now that the acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Charter Communications has closed.
"It's terrible," he said. "With all the mergers going on, I think now we have a chance."