This week’s mailbag gets into Jurickson Profar’s PED suspension and how the Braves might compensate for it, a potential embarrassment of infield riches for the White Sox, the Mariners’ rotation depth, and much more.
Jeff asks:
Where do the go after the Profar suspension news? Who is available and what will the trade price be?
Morris asks:
Thank you again for doing a reader mailbag. I wish my question was coming under better circumstances. Let’s get the Braves’ elephant out of the way: Jurickson Profar.
We don’t need to get into the weeds about the suspension. I’m choosing to be an optimist here, so, I’m going to be polite and talk around the situation. I see this development as lineup flexibility. The Yaz signing looks great, and I think Eli White as the primary bench and LHH platoon-bat is not as bad as some might worry.
But it’s also payroll flexibility. We just “saved” $18M in commitments and taxes for this season. How should AA allocate that money? Could we get Giolito or Littell for something around 1-year and $10M? Or is that money now dry powder for a possible trade?
Lastly, should we cut Profar this coming offseason? I’m assuming he’s probably done in MLB after this, but I know he’d still be owed for the 2027 part of his deal, but, if I’m AA, I’d happily eat that money to have an opening for a dependable guy who won’t present this sort of clubhouse issue.
I remember finding the Braves’ signing of Mike Yastrzemski a bit superfluous when it occurred in December, but the move is looking wise given Profar’s suspension. Yaz’s projected platoon partner looks to be Eli White.
White spent all of 2025 in the Majors, winning a utility role with the Braves out of camp. The 31-year-old tallied 271 plate appearances, getting regular duty for about a month until Ronald Acuña Jr. returned from the IL. About 35% of those PA came against lefties, against whom White managed a league average 100 wRC+ even accounting for five homers against lefties Brent Suter, Jeffrey Springs, Shota Imanaga, Colton Gordon, and Jose A. Ferrer in those 96 PA.
White logged more time in the minors in 2023 and ’24. Baseball-Reference has unfortunately decided to stop providing minor league splits, so I can only tell you how White hit against lefties across all levels combined. He managed a .281/.337/.494 line against southpaws in 98 PA in 2024, and .258/.365/.581 in 74 PA in ’23. So there’s a little bit of data suggesting White can maybe be a decent short side platoon partner for Yastrzemski. How about outside options?
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