Padres to Reportedly Deal for Perennial 'Breakout' Player Jurickson Profar
By Adam Weinrib
I'm starting to believe that Jurickson Profar will never be the sort of elite 30-30 player that many pegged him to be when his career began, but the last two seasons have proven he's a valuable addition, if not still a bizarre one.
Profar, a non-tender candidate in Oakland, will now be heading to the San Diego Padres in a trade right before the deadline, with a possible profusion of moves still on the horizon for the A's.
Padres To Acquire Jurickson Profar https://t.co/iIvvZRn81R pic.twitter.com/GsAkNvAUAR
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) December 2, 2019
San Diego will provide the A's with 25-year-old catcher Austin Allen in return.
The Oakland A's have traded infielder Jurickson Profar to the San Diego Padres for catcher Austin Allen and a player to be named later, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 2, 2019
Profar was likely to be non-tendered before the 8 p.m. ET deadline, and Oakland wound up getting Allen, 25 with some pop.
Once the top prospect in all of a baseball as a young Ranger, Profar came closest to fulfilling his destiny in 2018, hitting .254 with 20 homers and 77 RBI while playing an, ahem, errant middle infield. He equaled that home run total in his follow-up season in Oakland last year, but saw his average fall to .218, once again marred by maddening inconsistency and swinging from the heels.
He'll likely never be the fearsome MVP we once thought we were encountering, but at the very least, former Rangers exec and current Padres GM AJ Preller still believes in him.
The #Padres acquire infielder Jurickson Profar from the #Athletics, as @ByRobertMurray reported. It reunites Padres GM A.J. Preller with Profar from their days with the #Rangers.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 2, 2019
We'll see if his third home in three years finally unlocks something.