LOS ANGELES -- As far as awkward situations go, the Los Angeles Dodgers stumbled into a doozy this offseason, with all parties involved participating in damage control Saturday.

Call it a step toward renewed unity.

It was in November when former major leaguer Andy Van Slyke told a St. Louis radio show that the highest-paid player on the Dodgers wants Yasiel Puig gone. Van Slyke didn’t clarify who that highest-paid player was, only to deny that it was Adrian Gonzalez, leaving Clayton Kershaw hanging out to dry.

Yasiel Puig said he's aiming to work out any communication issues with Clayton Kershaw during spring training. Elsa/Getty Images

Van Slyke, of course, is the father of Dodgers outfielder Scott Van Slyke, who just so happens to be one of Kershaw’s closest pals on the team.

Nobody denied it all happened like Andy Van Slyke said, but nobody talked directly about it, either.

“That was a mishap,” Scott Van Slyke said Saturday, after his autograph session at the team’s annual Fan Fest.

Kershaw was vague at best, suggesting that the truth is out there somewhere.

“The only thing I can say about all that is that Scott is one of my best friends and I believe in whatever Scott says,” Kershaw said. “And then anything else that happens outside of that, I wouldn’t pay much attention to because it’s probably not the truth.”

Say what?

“Scott is one of my best friends, so whatever I say to Scott, is what I say to Scott,” Kershaw said. “And everything else might not be the truth.”

The guy who seemed to best promote harmony and team unity was Puig, the polarizing outfielder who has his critics when it comes to his approach to the game. He said he got a chance to talk to Kershaw while they were visiting Cuba as part of a Major League Baseball goodwill tour in December.

“We were on that trip to Cuba together and we got to catch up out there and talked a little bit here when we got here for Fan Fest,” Puig said through an interpreter. “We will go out to spring training again and I will catch up with him out there and have a little bit more of a discussion to make sure we’re on the same page and that we’re all working together as a team that is focused on getting to the World Series this year.”

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was asked about team harmony, with Kershaw and Puig mentioned specifically.

“I think it’s important for all of our guys to have respect for one another and in some instances that may manifest itself in going to dinner with guys,” Friedman said. “And in other ways, it’s just having a respect for the way they play the game, how hard they prepare or how much they care. Creating that environment for our group is something that is important to [manager] Dave Roberts, and something that he will nurture toward building a more cohesive group.”

Scott Van Slyke said he has apologized, but only to Kershaw.

“I want [Kershaw] to be able to tell me things without it getting out and I know that’s capable of happening,” Van Slyke said. “Besides that, my dad apologized and that was it. Forgive and forget and move on.”

Expect team harmony to be overanalyzed in the upcoming season, with Scott Van Slyke making his own analysis of how to handle things moving forward.

“I don’t think any top-secret information is going to be flying his way any time soon,” Van Slyke said about his father.