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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Can Braves seing a trade with Yanks for Jasson Dominguez?
Only if braves have 3 balls and a bat available
I would think the Yanks asking price is probably higher than the Braves would want to pay for another overhyped unproven prospect after their Kelenic experience.
A. If they show interest he will prob get injured. Braves seem to be cursed in that regards. B. I agree with another persons comment, would likely already be a high asking price before the Profar news that the Braves wouldn’t do and maybe even couldn’t . I love the idea though but I don’t love the idea of forking out quite a bit for an unproven guy even the Yankees are unwilling to commit to
“However, Ohtani is designated as a two-way player, so he doesn’t count against the 13-pitcher limit. As such, the Dodgers are able to have 14 pitchers.”
Well, it’s nice to see the rules throwing scrappy underdog teams a bone.
It was a thing with the Angels too….
I don’t believe any team with a fully operational Shohei Ohtani should be considered an underdog, even the Rockies if they had him.
Take it easy he strikes out like a fish.
You mean like Trout and Bass?
@choof
Right. It’s a cheap shot joke. I am aware the rules have applied to Shohei Ohtani regardless of what team he has been on.
I do think it would be more equitable to count him against the pitcher limit instead of the position player limit, for the duration of such time as he is pitching. If/when he needs to shut down pitching again, he obviously would go back to counting against the position player limit.
@Jarred
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sarcasm
Sorry lol I’m used to a lot of idiots on this site it’s hard to decipher who’s actually stupid or just making jokes
@choof
Fair point.
Now I’m wondering if the Ohtani exemption will be eliminated in the next CBA.
For the expanding rosters question, I would be interested in seeing the designation of certain guys as NA. Teams aren’t going to use more than 1 SP that is on the active roster every game so it would be kind of cool if teams could cycle out the previous say 2 games SP, since they aren’t going to pitch anyway, in favor of an extra position player (or two) or reliever. Have a 26-man active roster but it’s really 28 with being able to designate 2 players on a given day as “ineligible” or “inactive” and carry another platoon player or pinch runner
So just make it 28. The teams don’t want this
Sox can trade Lee and Sosa to Braves
Why?
It doesn’t change your point, Ozuna was accepted by his teammates after what he did. But he didn’t do what you said he did.
The police retracted their statements about him choking her. They claimed he choked her with one hand… while he was holding her phone AND his own phone in that same hand… while his other hand was in a full cast because he had 2 broken fingers. how many hands does Ozuna have??
The police released the bodycam footage and you can watch it on YouTube.
This isn’t a defense of what he did, just a clarification. He was still guilty of DV, just a milder version.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
I thank u for that
Got a link? I didn’t use the word “choke,” you can see his hand on her neck in the bodycam video, and the DA dropping felony charges is very much not a police retraction of anything.
you didn’t say he choked her. That’s a very common thing to hear though. It’s what we all first heard in Atlanta.
But you did say he threw her against the wall, that police witnessed it. That’s not in the video either.
it appears his hand is on her neck at first, but a moment later he drops both phones with that same hand. At 1:24
youtube.com/watch?v=xRb0Ts2zkzs
I didn’t say the throwing up against the wall was in the video. I said police said they witnessed that. You said the police retracted something – what’s the source on that?
This is some next level cope
Braves are cooked. Even if healthy they were cooked. It’s time to rebuild but this FO is too obtuse to realize it.
How are Braves cooked? Braves are far from rebuilding. That 18M can be used now or at the deadline. Losing and not having to pay Profar will be a blessing. You’re negative in every post. You sound like the guy who posted under TradeAcuna!
That dude has the worst/dumbest posts about the Braves.
My concern as a Braves fan is they will use losing Profar’s salary as an excuse to dip under the luxury tax for the second straight year …now at $246mm. I’m sure that’s an option at this point.
Hey, Tim, minors splits are still there.
Eli in ’24 .813 vs rhp and .831 vs lhp.