Major League Baseball announces brave outfielder Jurickson Profar The drug that tested positive for performance enhancement has been suspended for 80 games. Reporter Mike Rodriguez first passed the suspension due to a positive test. ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed that this will be a PED suspension. Profar will be able to return this season, but will not qualify for the playoffs this year, just like all players will be in the year of PED suspension.
Major League Baseball (MLB) announced the suspension of the following statement: “The Office of the Baseball Commissioner announced today that Atlanta’s brave outfielder Jurickson Profar did not need to pay 80 pauses after testing positive for good gonadotropin (HCG) (HCG), a performance-enhancing substance that is effectively downgraded in violation of baseball’s joint drug prediction programs.
The team also issued a statement: “We are surprised and very disappointed to learn that Jurickson Profar tested positive for enhanced performance substances that violated Major League Baseball’s Joint Prevention and Treatment Program. We fully support the program and hope that Jurickson will learn from this experience.”
The news will immediately give new revelations to the Profar Breakthrough Movement in 2024. His former highest prospect is that his major league career is quite inconsistent. His plate subject has been good, above average for most of his career, but usually lacks influence. At the end of the 2023 season, he played 961 major league games and sat on the .238/.322/.383 struggle line. The product translates to 92 WRC+, which shows that he is 8% worse than the league average overall.
His stock has fallen far enough that he has reached a deal with Padres to a 1mm deal until 2024, barely exceeding the minimum wage of $740,000 last year. He went on to earn his best season of his career at the age of 31. He walks with 11.4% of the clips and hits only 15.1% of the time. His .280/.380/.459 hitting line translated to 139 WRC+, which is easily the best of his career. His average export speed jumped from 86.5 miles per hour to 91.1 compared to 2023. His hard hit rate increased from 31.8% to 44.4%. Usually, almost everything on his Statcast page turns red.
This has made him much hotter in past offseasons. He gained interest from clubs like the Metropolis, Royals, Blue Jays and Astros before signing a three-year 42mm deal with Atlanta in January. The news will naturally lead to the baseball community reevaluating the breakout season.
It is presumably that Atlanta didn’t know Profar’s test when signing him, otherwise they wouldn’t have reached a deal. Still, it’s a big headache for them and it looks like a waste of resources. The club has taken a very measured approach this winter, and it seems to work under certain financial constraints. They flipped Jorge Soller Once the offseason begins, the rest of his contract with the Angels begins. They later rejected a reasonable club option Travis d’Arnaud. They renegotiated Reynaldo López and Aaron BummerIn both cases, a little money was made from 2025 to 2026.
In hindsight, the club seems to be trying to lower their salary to a certain level and gain themselves on a competitive balance tax. According to the lineup, their CBT number is currently about 234mm. That’s about 7mm away from this year’s 241mm base threshold, which gives them some room to swing to make seasonal moves and reset this year’s tax status. Assuming they do follow this, they can enter 2026 as “first” payers after paying their taxes in 2023 and 2024.
Thrifty moves around, forgery is a big splash of them. They did not offer another deal worth more than 1.5mm. The outfield is an obvious target area. Last year’s acquisition Jarred Kelenic His first season in Atlanta hit .231/.286/.393 didn’t work. Ronald Akunia Jr. May tore his left ACL apart and missed the rest of the season. They are for Soler and Ramón Laureano But both were sent to this winter due to financial reasons. Soller is flipped to Angel Canned Griffinthe cans in the future have not been tilted. Laureano’s salary is 6.1mm, and he himself is not on standby.
With all this in mind, this is obviously not an ideal development. The club is trying to walk a thin line throughout the winter and pinch a few cents while hoping to maintain its position in 2025. Among the few subtractions, Profar is their most aggressive addition. Now he will stop moving soon, and some people speculate on what form will appear when he comes back. He will not be eligible for the playoffs this year anyway.
He won’t get paid while serving, saving the club some money, but now that the season has begun, they have little choice to redirect those funds. Now, the team will have to improvise to create a way to move forward. Harris is still a strong choice for centers, but the corner options aren’t incredible. Kelenic’s figures are able to get enough playing time, although as mentioned earlier, he struggled last year and has played time so far this year at .154/.154/.385. Bryan de la Cruz and Eli White Also in the active lineup. Stuart Fairchild He was asked to give up today and will join the club soon. Carlos Rodriguez It is among 40 people, but optional.
As time goes by, this photo should improve. Alex Verdugo Signed a week ago. He agreed to choose now so that competition can be strengthened after the lack of spring training and should join the club in the next few weeks. Acuña may recover from the injury list in May. Profar will eventually return from such suspensions, but will not qualify for the playoffs. As the trade deadline approaches, players from other clubs may become available.
Still, it’s an intuitive check of a club that’s already a bit rolled up. They lost their first four games and were swept by the old club in Profar in San Diego. There is still a long season, but they will be fighting a tough battle in a packed NL East. As mentioned earlier, they tried to walk by cutting ropes by cutting expenses, but were still competing. Profar was the jewelry from that offseason, but Shine disappeared quickly.
Photo courtesy of Mike Lang, Imagn image.
