Jurickson Profar has been a disappointment this season to say the least.
Suspension aside, he’s played 27 games for the Atlanta Braves and posted a 101 OPS+ through 127 at-bats. Eric Cole from House That Hank Built believes this could end up being one of the worst contracts in Braves history.
“Profar’s suspension alone is enough to consider signing him a mistake,” Cole wrote. “However, when you take that in combination with some truly troubling trends with his batted ball metrics, you have the recipe for a deal that could go down as one of the worst in Braves history.”
It’s hard to pay someone $42 million over three years and watch them sit out for 80 games of the first year. While Profar isn’t exactly lighting it up at the plate, he’s producing league-average numbers.
However, the Braves didn’t shell out $42 million for league average.
“It is easy to think that the reason for Profar’s regression is because he is no longer on the juice,” wrote Cole. “However, with his chronic knee issues and at his age, it is just possible that the Braves bought him past his prime. Bad deals like the ones handed out to BJ Upton and Derek Lowe ended up being disappointing, but between the $15 million a year he is making, how not tradable he is likely to be, and the the PED suspension, it is looking more and more like Profar is going to go down as what the Braves’ worst signings of all time and could be even worse those deals before it is all said and done.”
It may be too soon to put this one in the category of worst trades in team history, but Profar certainly has a long way to go before he can prove to the fans and organization his contract was justified.
