Rangers shortstop Jurickson Profar is drawing “a lot of hits” from teams interested in acquiring the former top prospect, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). Despite all this trade buzz, Texas is “at the moment very much inclined to hold” onto the 22-year-old.
In this respect, not much has changed since early November, when Rangers GM Jon Daniels said “we are not looking to trade” Profar. The only difference is that the Arizona Fall League season is now complete and teams may have had a fuller chance to scout and analyze Profar’s impressive performance. He hit .267/.352/.453 with two homers over 91 AFL plate appearances, playing exclusively as a DH as he continues to work his way back from the shoulder injuries that sidelined him for virtually all of the last two seasons, save a handful of minor league games in 2015.
It’s no surprise that Profar continues to generate trade interest given his high pedigree. Baseball America, MLB.com, ESPN’s Keith Law and Baseball Prospectus all unanimously tabbed Profar as the game’s top prospect prior to the 2013 season, and he received his first significant taste of MLB action that year, hitting .234/.308/.336 over 324 PA as a 20-year-old. It’s still an open question, however, whether or not Profar’s troublesome right shoulder is fit enough to handle throwing. Since the Rangers aren’t going to accept a buy-low offer, it’s unlikely that any team will make a serious push for Profar until scouts can see him play the field during Spring Training.
Even at the height of his prospect value, Profar still drew a lot of trade speculation given the presence of Elvis Andrus as the Rangers’ everyday shortstop and Rougned Odor also making his way up the minor league ladder. Andrus still has seven years and $105MM remaining on his pricey extension (though he has opt-out clauses after 2018 and 2019) and Odor established his claim on the second base job with a strong 2015 season, so there’s even more question about where Profar fits into the Rangers’ long-term middle infield plans.
Please, do not trade him!!
-sincerely, a Texas Rangers fan
I think Rangers would be out of their mind to trade him at his current status.
But then again they signed Matt Bush so anything is possible apparently.
To be fair, the Matt Bush deal is low risk. If he doesn’t work out, well…peace out. Not a big deal.
Just no reason to trade Profar though. Wouldn’t get anyone good for him, and the risk of him developing into something good in another team’s farm system is very real.
Oh I fully agree it is low risk, but with all the chances this man has had over the years, it is disgusting that mlb organizational personnel would continue giving this murderer another chance. He has had more than enough chances yet he always reverts to his teenage self. It doesn’t do any good giving a recently released prisoner an MLB contract because he will never learn all of the people that he has hurt and the piece of scum that he is. I am very close to this situation regarding Matt Bush and have heard and seen all the horrible things he has done throughout his adult life. This guy doesn’t deserve another chance. Shame on the Rangers for signing him. Maybe they will go after Papelbon next.
Pap wouldn’t take second bananas to Giles… Oh wait…
He didn’t murder the guy, “guy who is supposedly close to the situation.”
Also, he wasn’t given an MLB contact, but rather a MiLB one.
This is such an ignorant rely.
gnat
he ran over a person’s head and fled the scene. If that isn’t murder then we can just say that stabbing someone in the brain is just a brain freeze.
And don’t pick apart what I said. You know what i meant when I said he was given an MLB contract. A team agreed to sign him. That is a contract with an MLB organization.
And don’t question how close I am to this situation when you clearly know nothing about it or haven’t been affected by it personally.
I’m not trying to sound ignorant here (which means I will sound ignorant) but being personally involved in a situation like this does not make you more informed of the situation, in fact it tends to make you more biased.
Matt Bush made a terrible decision, one that he paid for with his time served. The whole point of placing someone in jail is for them to pay the debt to society for the crime committed. He paid that price. It is unfair to expect him to continue to have to pay that price for the rest of his life.
If you want to point fingers, you should point them at the judicial and penal systems of the United States. They are the ones who were responsible for determining what price Mr. Bush should have to pay. It would be grossly unfair (and arguable reprehensible) for the Rangers or and other team to refuse to sign Matt Bush due to his mistakes for which he has already paid the price.
Uhm, Alfredo Simon apparently killed someone and the Tigers traded for him. He will likely have a job this season. As for Bush, he left someone for dead and went to prison where he supposedly got reformed. This guy will mostly be known as the kid drafted ahead of Justin Verlander but hes still gotta be athletically talented. Im sure rhe Rangers are banking on him being reformed and still talented.
bartoloshomie
All i am saying is that organizations need to have a sense of reality within choosing players to represent their organization other than who they think can be of value to them. Just because a person may have money or is an athlete or actor doesn’t exclude them from being persecuted for what they have done and treated as who they really are.
In order for him to be a murderer, a homocide would need to have taken place. No one ever died.
He may not be the best individual to keep giving chances, but he isn’t a murderer.
I think we can all agree to be thankful for the fact that MLB has nowhere close to as many of these situations as the NFL…
Of course, trade him, depending on what other teams are willing to part with.
I say trade him. He’s always getting hurt. Might as well get someone good in return for him while teams are still interested in him.
Dude, re read your comment and then tell me how we plan to get “someone good” for him.
The thing is, they likely aren’t getting anyone good for him right now.
Look guys if he’s getting a lot of trade interest we can use him in a package deal for someone who can actually play the field. Profar will only be a DH we don’t need a DH we have fielder for that.
I don’t know much about profar, but just by looking at his stats he doesn’t look very good
His numbers are extremely impressive when you consider he got his first taste of the majors at age 19 and in the minors was playing in leagues where the average player were roughly 4-6 years older than him.
I’m absolutely shocked to hear this. Just shocked.
Billy Eppler get this kid to play second base! Trade Alcanatara for him!
If they are going to trade him it will be after spring training if he doesn’t preform. And if he gets traded I see him going to the Yankees or the Nationals of the Nationals don’t acquire anyone else before spring
They’re not going to trade him if his value sinks lower…why would they do that?
Maybe they lose faith on him.
The rangers lose faith in him and then another team still sees value in him it’s that simple, if the Rangers give up on him then there will be more then a few teams making some calls to Texas about him. It won’t be the first time a team finds value in someone that nobody else sees, look at what the Pirates do every year with pitchers
Value only sinks lower if he can’t throw at all.
Padres need to be all over this
Mets will take him
I think the Mets should certainly give a trade a look. Profar is still young, and although he’s been injured a lot the past couple of years, he would fit in nicely in the Mets lineup for years to come. They have a lot of young arms, and since Texas lost a lot of them in the Hamels trade, it would make some sense. Maybe Wheeler, who has similar injury issues?
I wonder if Inciarte + Williams Pérez + Ryan Weber would get the deal done for Profar + another 15-20 prospect on the Rangers list??
He’s got plenty of years of control left, he’s a Boras client, and the Braves have Aybar, Jace, Albies, and Swanson all looking like they could contribute over the next two years. If the Braves get in the market for young hitters, it should be for a power hitting 3B.
Braves will take the best players available to them regardless of position. I think Inciarte is the best player currently in that trade though. Profar was injured on the MLB roster so he only has 4 years of control left and nobody even knows if he can play defense.
I agree. You also don’t know how much the shoulder injury and missed developmental time will affect Profar offensively. Melvin Upton tore his labrum early in his second season and had surgery in the offseason between his 2nd and 3rd seasons. It messed with his swing and while he had some good offensive seasons after, he never looked like the same player who was the #2 prospect in baseball and hit .300 as a rookie. Until we see how Profar bounces back from these lost seasons, his value is way down.
Whoops, replied to wrong question…
We’ve held onto him for this long, may as well wait it out barring an unforseen upside-swap. In the minors, this guy switch-hit .811OPS, skipping A+ ball completely, while delivering ++ defense from SS not long enough ago. And he is still younger than guys like Kris Bryant, Delino Deshields, Matt Duffy, Odubel Herrera… Please please Jurickson, force us to trade Elvis.
I honestly think they need to hold onto this guy, he has great upside and they need anybody to step up so they can ship andrus off to whoever will take him, Elvis’ best days are behind him in my opinion but trading Profar would be foolish because of his potential and age
This would be selling really really low. The Rangers need to find out if its best to eat money on Andrus or move Profar for a significant package. They have to be completely convinced he couldnt handle the outfield as well. He is 22.