Jurickson Profar was back on a field yesterday for the first time since his second PED suspension, turning up as a member of the Braves in the Venezuelan Winter League.
Profar went 2-for-4 for Tiburones de La Guaira and said afterward that he’s simply trying to get reps after missing all of last season.
It was the first public sighting of Profar since the 162-game ban that cost him all of 2026. Ronald Acuña Jr. said on his podcast that Profar essentially ghosted everyone in the organization after he left, a detail that only deepens the tension around what comes next.
Atlanta still owes Profar $15 million next season no matter what happens, and that financial wrinkle is the one thing keeping this from being a clean decision. Alex Anthopoulos acknowledged earlier this offseason that the club would need to sort through it internally.
“We’re going to have to sit and talk internally just across the board about the whole thing,” said Anthopoulos, via Jesus Cano of The Athletic. “It wasn’t productive (at the time of his suspension).
There was no point at that moment in time because it wasn’t changing, right? He was gone for the year, and we had spring training to take care of.
This is now the time to have those discussions.”
The Braves are built around value, and from that standpoint, moving on from Profar is hard to justify if even a few useful moments in 2027 are on the table instead of watching the $15 million disappear entirely.
But there’s another side to it, too. Atlanta also sells itself on culture, and keeping Profar would send the wrong message to teammates who were hurt by his cheating. That’s the judgment call facing the front office now.
The money is already gone. The question is whether the Braves are willing to act like it.
In Other News...
Braves Fans Will Instantly Recognize This World Series Parallel
A late-inning jolt from a rookie can feel like the kind of moment that shifts a World Series, especially when it comes in the 12th and puts his team ahead in dramatic fashion. Cooper Pratt delivered exactly that kind of swing, and for Braves fans, the scene probably felt uncomfortably familiar right away. The energy, the timing and the sense that a postseason game had just turned were all there, along with the uneasy memory of how quickly a championship script can change.
Milwaukee got the kind of lift that usually becomes a postseason legend, only for the Tampa Bay Rays to answer in the bottom half and flip the night back the other way. It is the sort of sequence Atlanta followers know too well from a recent October heartbreak, when a huge swing seemed to set one path in motion before the other dug in and changed the outcome. For Braves fans, the parallel is hard to miss, and it leaves plenty of room to wonder whether this latest version ends the same way or breaks the pattern instead. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Face Tough Price Decision On Two Key Free Agents
Jim Bowdens free-agent projections put the Braves in a familiar winter spot, trying to weigh fit against price on two players who matter in very different ways. Mauricio Dubon brings the kind of defensive versatility teams value when the market gets thin, and the Athletic piece suggests there may not be much competition at shortstop if clubs start circling. For Atlanta, that can turn a reasonable ask into a tougher one, especially if other teams decide they need a glove-first option who can move around the diamond.
Raisel Iglesias is the more straightforward name, but not necessarily the easier call. Bowden projected the veteran closer at one year and $17 million after another All-Star-level season, yet the Braves may pause before going that high with a reliever on the roster already and some age-related caution attached to the deal. It leaves Atlanta staring at two free agents who could help right away, while also forcing a decision on how much certainty they want to buy this offseason. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Prospect Finally Showed Some Pop In A Tight Glendale Win
Pitching set the tone in Glendale, but a pair of Braves prospects gave the box score a little life. Tate Southisene and Isaiah Drake each found ways to contribute at the plate in a game where clean contact was hard to come by, and the evaluation leaned as much on quality of contact as it did on the final line score. For Atlanta, nights like this can be just as useful as the loud ones, especially when young hitters are asked to work through limited looks against sharp arms.
Drakes at-bat stood out because it hinted at the kind of growth the Braves have been waiting to see, while the staff behind him kept the game under control. Logan Samuels and Owen Hackman took care of the late innings to help Glendale stay in front, and the shutout held together in a contest that never really loosened up. The bigger question for Atlanta is whether these small offensive signs are the start of something more consistent, or just the kind of incremental progress that takes a while to turn into real production. [Read more 🡒]