The Rangers have announced that infielder Jurickson Profar will miss 10-12 weeks with a muscle tear, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. The Rangers would prefer to look internally for a replacement, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The Rangers' big offseason trade of Ian Kinsler for Prince Fielder and cash was based on the idea that Profar, once one of baseball's best prospects, would take over at second base. Now, though, the Rangers will need to turn to a backup plan. The Rangers do have an excellent second base prospect in Rougned Odor, but he just turned 20 and has played only 30 games above the Class A+ level.
Who cares? They have Ian Kinsler.
I don’t believe they do.
No they don’t!
With 4 upvotes, this has to be some kinda joke that I’m just not getting, right?
You forgot your sarcasm font.
All those people who doesn’t get sarcasm…
I can’t believe that many people missed the joke you were making.
Just send Fielder to second base… he’s got this.
Another trade suitor for the Cubs Darwin Barney.
Stop suggesting this. Nobody wants Barney, he is a future non-tender candidate, not something someone wants to give up something for. He probably makes $3M+ next winter and maybe $4M+ the winter after and I have trouble seeing anyone paying that much for him.
Actually do want Barney, and have had interest in the past.
Why are you so against even the suggestion of Barney? I thought this comment section was designed to encourage debate, not complain when people don’t share your exact opinion.
Barney is a great choice. Unless the Rangers are going to pay for a big contract second baseman past his prime (Weeks and Uggla) or possibly ruin one of their best prospects by bringing him up before he is ready (Odor), all you are going to get in non-tender candidates. Barney is the best of the bunch. He will hit better than either Rosales or Wilson, and that is Barney’s worst skill. Barney has been showing improvement with his bat, and the move to a (slightly) better offensive park and into a better lineup could solve some issues. Barney is a first rate talent with his glove and can provide valuable depth for a playoff caliber team. I think this is a great suggestion for a quality, realistic and affordable option.
“Hi, Theo. It’s Jon.” “Which one you want? Barney, Bonifacio, or Barney? And who are you offering? BTW, you’re my fave GM.”
Barney is a pretty awful player, and the Cubs actually want teams to give up something for him. Odds are that over the next week there is going to be a flood of players that will be about as good as Barney, for cheaper.
How has he showed improvement with bat? For the past 3 years he has gotten worse every year. I wouldn’t go with what he has done in a few ST ab, he had a 1.000 ops in 2012 ST, .850 in 2011, hey even 2013 .670 he improved.
Essentially he is a utility player on every other team. And as we can see from the brendan ryan contract that is worth about $2MM aav for an all glove no bat middle infielder. Barney is making $2.3MM in his first year of arbitration. It wouldn’t surprise me if he gets non-tendered next winter. There are many players that will enter the market when ST closes and they didn’t make the team.
Who cares if you have one bad season? I don’t. If Texas decides not to go with Barney and chooses Uggla or Weeks then that’s their loss. Uggla might find himself at DH when Profar comes back. Weeks would be the back up to Profar. Barney could split time between SS and 2B, and possibly if his bat improves in Texas he could kick Profar out or over to SS and could make Andrus available maybe. I understand that they won’t trade Andrus especially after trading Kinsler, but if Barney stays here he is going to be out of job by late June and no one will see him again after Baez is here.
wow.
Barney has never had a good season in 3 full years, he has simply gotten worse every year. There is no way that Barney kicks out Andrus or Profar, those 2 players actually have potential, Profar being the top prospect in baseball last year. The only reason Barney has a job still is because the Cubs are bad. On any contender he is at best a utility player.
The world where a utility player is described as two positions. Plus I said he COULD.
Because Barney’s terrible. There is a huge great wide plain between a big contract player and the Barneys of the world. He’s nowhere near an average player.
Rough Odor has to be the worst (baseball) name ever
What about grant Balfour. He grants ball fours.
The name definitely stinks.
Well it’s Rougned. Pronounced Roog-ned. Still bad though.
When your last name is Odor, it doesn’t really matter what your first name is.
Somewhere, Kinsler is putting his Profar voodoo doll away and smiling. But I think Odor would do a wonderful job as Profar’s substitute.
No way he’s ready, but people love prospects so let’s have a look at him.
Well, I don’t think Profar was even truly ready since he didn’t get to play Kinsler’s position much last season. So, I think they’re close to the same level…maybe Odor has the edge since he was dedicated to 2B not SS like Profar.
I don’t think Kinsler will put any of the 25-man voodoo dolls away until the Rangers lose their 162 games. This hurts real bad!
Could be much worse to have a Prince, Choo or Beltre out that long.
Beltre’s had some health issues this Spring too, so maybe Kinsler’s got a pin in his Beltre Doll right now too.
they also have Luis Sardinas, Chris Botsick and a few others.
Drew ?
I was thinking that too, but Drew hasn’t played 2B in his career.
He’s only out 2 to 3 months so it’s a possibility only if they can trade him when he gets back.
Andrus is out with a sore elbow last I heard, it was the 2nd time he was shut down for the problem, so could be something going on there that could have them sniffing Drew
Jurickson Profar=most over rated prospect in years
Never hit above .286 in a full minor league season, never hit more than 14 homeruns in a minor league season, his speed is average to slightly above average, and his defense is average as well. Everything about him screams average.
he was super young at every level. That’s why scouts don’t just look at box scores.
Eh, while true, that excuse only goes so far. At some point, the potential needs to become production, and it hasn’t happened over a period of years for Profar thus far. While he has talent, no one should be shocked if he’s just an average infielder over his career.
haha. He JUST turned 21. He also had exceptional BB/K rates in the minors which project a lot better than most stats to the MLB level. Hopefully the Rangers agree with you and trade him to the Mets for lesser return.
You blaming him when he hasn’t had a chance until now? Not playing everyday is a very difficult adjustment
.276 average in the minors, .231 in the majors and .222 in spring training. Yes he is young but if he was truly a top prospect, you would think that he would at least show signs of some sort of good hitting ability. I always thought he ended up as more of a Stephen Drew with better defense than a true superstar, but maybe I’m wrong.
.367 Obp and a .449 slugging while being he youngest player at every level. That’s plenty of offense, especially from a shortstop. That’s a better offensive player than Jose Reyes.
Batting average alone is a useless stat for what you are looking for. Great walk rate from a very young player. That usually translates at a high level. And why would you mention his spring numbers? 50 practice pa tell you very much?
I thought he was overrated last year, but he still should be able to be a solid middle infielder, he was regularly younger than the competition.
In the minors, Profar had a slash of .371/.467/.838 in A-AAA at 18-20 years old, which was 3-6 years younger than the league average. Last year, there were four 2B and 1 SS who had an OPS above .800.
Look at Miguel Cabrera’s minor league stats. Then tell me how minor league batting average is a good predictor for major league success.
Show signs of his talent… you mean like being the first person born in 1993 to play in the Majors?? And how about hitting a home run in the middle of the commentator mentioning it? making him only the 3rd teenager in MLB history to hit a homerun in their first major league at bat and becoming the youngest player to hit a homerun since some piddly guy named Adrian Beltre. I wonder how that worked out for Beltre…
I understand why scouts would be excited about the set of tools a guy like Profar possesses and what kind of player he can become if he puts it all together. I just never understood how he was constantly ranked #1. Guys like Sano were hitting 30 bombs, Springer filling out every offensive stat, and Oscar Taveras hitting way above .300.
I do think Profar can be a productive MLB player, especially at a middle infield position, It just seems like they have hyped him to be a superstar when he has never really shown that ceiling in his game.
*facepalm* I just looked up Miguel Sano… have you SEEN his stats?? If you have, why did you even bring him up? The guy LITERALLY has DH written all over him. He’s horrible in the field, and they take that into consideration.
Oscar Taveras plays a less premium defensive position than Profar. Profar has GG caliber potential, while Taveras probably won’t even get close. Taveras has relied upon his power to move forward. Let’s see how that has panned out:
2011: A-ball .386, 1.028 OPS
2012: AA .321, .953 OPS
2013: AAA .306, .803 OPS
FACT: Profar has a higher AAA OPS than Taveras.
FACT: Taveras only has 1 more AAA HR than Profar, and needed 29 ABs more to get it.
Profar was a #1 ranked prospect because he has superior defensive capability at the position where it is most prized and still has significant bat wielding ability for someone at that position. Taveras has great potential, but plays a lesser position and isn’t an everyday CF. Corner outfield positions are loaded with guys with power. He could be the next Andre Ethier, or he could be the next Nelson Cruz and not make a splash in the Bigs for 7 more years.
I’m one of the few that agree with you. Profar has been all hype, and hasn’t produced a thing. As a rival fan, I’m more worried about someone that actually gets in there that can produce hits, etc
Thank You! I’ve honestly never understood why he’s been so hyped. Other than his 1st career at-bat, I really haven’t been impressed with him.
Profar will never amount to anything at the MLB level. Any doubters, you’ll see.
See those contact rates and plate discipline? His age at each level? His awesome defense at a premium position. That’s why he is a higher ranked prospect (former).
He posted a negative defense war in 2012 and 2013. I don’t see anything to suggest his defense will be anything beyond average or perhaps very slightly below.
A negative defensive war in how many innings at how many positions?
You can answer nothing about his defensive values based on how little time he has spent in the big leagues.
Of course, the way he’s been hyped, anything short of making several all star teams would qualify as over-hyped. Rangers were the darling of the sabre crowd, so their prospects were going to be over-hyped, just like the Red Sox.
Trade sardinas for a 2B
I had to check to see that Rougned Odor wasn’t a typo or a rally weird joke
It’d be interesting to see if the Rangers make a trade for a utility guy. Maybe the Pirates have someone in exchange for Moreland, though I doubt that’s even discussed at this point.
It was Ian Kinsler, with the lead pipe, in the billiard room.
With Darvish having some stress issues the Rangers are looking like pretty bad with injuries. Wonder if Scherzer could be had in a three team deal? Best one year rental available and with M Choice and all those injuries maybe Scherzer, Perez for LMartin Luke Jackson and a third team giving the Tigers a young SP with a guy from the Rangers and little prices from the Tigers.
Detroit will try to win with Scherzer this year.
Last year I would have said the same thing but the Tigers are starting to play that moneyball with lots of money and might decide that 2 to three good young players are better than 1 very good player who will probably have a worse year and they only have him for one year.
A Player who is Out of Option?
It smells trouble if Texas have to go with roughed odor.
Conspiracy Theory: Scott Boras, is giving “kick-backs” to all MLB trainers, for any infielder “injurys”. Thus far, the Trainers for the Tigers and Rangers, are expecting payment.
Works not done in Texas, Andrus is still out with a bad elbow. MRI was ok, but they don’t always detect tears.
The rangers need to go shopping for an infielder because odor is not major leauge ready. The best guy they can get is Stephen drew, and the other problem is elvis andrus wont be throwing in a week, and the rangers need to go get rollins from the phillies even though that he said that he is not tradeable. If tey do those things, the rangers should be ok in the 2014 season, but the dh spot with moreland is not a good idea. Trade moreland to the pirates for prospects and go get morales and the rangers will be set for opening day.
You play too many video games…………..
Nope just facts and they will come true
Seems Kevin frandsen would be a good fit
To think that Oscar Taveras was actually ranked below Profar…
To think that Profar actually posted a higher OPS in AAA last year…
Profar – 37 games played .807 OPS
Tavares – 46 games played .803 OPS
Aaron Hill would come to mind for a pitching prospect. Dbacks slide Didi or Owings to 2B and free up cash. Hill is owed 2/24MM.