The Atlanta Braves have a decision to make on Jurickson Profar, but one reporter around the team doesn’t sound like he expects much of a reunion.
After a season in which Profar never played a game for Atlanta, the big question now is whether the club will keep him around for the final year of his contract. Mark Bowman doesn’t believe that’s where this is headed.
“Profar certainly won’t be back in the clubhouse after performance-enhancing drug suspensions the last two years,” Bowman said. “So finding a right-handed-hitting outfielder stands at the top of the must-do list.”
Profar’s situation has been strange from the start. Atlanta didn’t have to pay him anything last season after he was suspended, and the former Silver Slugger never appeared in a game after testing positive for PEDs.
The suspension that followed was even more severe. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that “Atlanta Braves designated hitter Jurickson Profar is facing a 162-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug for the second time in the last year, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
Profar, 33, is the sixth player to receive a 162-game ban for PED use since Major League Baseball increased the penalty for two-time offenders to a full season in 2014. He will forfeit the entirety of his $15 million salary," ESPN's Jeff Passan wrote.
There’s also been little sign of Profar around the team since the second suspension. Hammer Territory’s Scott Coleman said, “Talking with people around the team.
After Profar got suspended a second time for his PED violation, this dude disappeared off the face of the earth. Changed his cell phone numbed, nobody heard from him, players hadn't heard from him is what I was told,”
For now, the ball is in Atlanta’s court. The organization has to decide whether Profar will play out the last year of the deal, but the reporting around the team points in one direction: a split feels likely. Profar’s next MLB opportunity, if there is one, is very much up in the air.
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