Padres to acquire Jurickson Profar from Athletics
(Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
It appears the San Diego Padres have acquired Jurickson Profar from the Oakland A’s for catcher Austin Allen.
For years, speculation around AJ Preller acquiring Jurickson Profar when he was a Texas Ranger swirled once Preller arrived as the newly-minted general manager in San Diego.
Now, Preller has finally acquired the player he once signed as an international free agent but, instead of him coming over as a Ranger, he’ll be obtained from the Oakland Athletics.
Early on December 2nd, the Padres swung a deal with the Oakland A’s to acquire the 26-year-old Profar in exchange for catcher Austin Allen and a player to be named later or cash.
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.
Profar was likely to be non-tendered before the 8 p.m. ET deadline, and Oakland wound up getting Allen, 25 with some pop.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 2, 2019
The earlier trade of Luis Urias left a hole at second base that Profar will presumably step into. Injuries have limited Profar, but he has posted back-to-back seasons of over 500 plate appearances with both the Rangers and A’s.
After hitting a relatively healthy .254/.335/.458 in 2018, Profar’s numbers plummetted to a .218/.310/.410 batting line in Oakland. His defensive stock also took a hit as 11 throwing errors at second base stuck him with a -10 DRS.
Peeling back the layers to Profar’s hitting woes leads to a bright potential. His 2019 strikeout and walk ratios were nearly identical to his 2018 ratios while he posted an xWOBA of .323 in 2019. Considering his xWOBA of .325 led to a 2.8 fWAR in 2018, and he still posted a 1.3 fWAR in 2019 despite his flaws is promising enough for the Padres to roll the dice on a bounceback season.
The most significant factor of his 2019 season? His BABIP. In 2019, Profar had a BABIP of .218, the lowest BAIP number amongst qualified batters in the league. However, his 2018 BABIP sat at .269, or around league average, and Profar saw positive gains in his at-bats.
Fangraphs’ “Steamer” projects that Profar will post a 2.2 fWAR season while his wRC+ will bounce back to a 104, fifteen points higher than his 2018 wRC+ of 84. If everything falls in his place, San Diego just made a steal.
In exchange for getting Profar in a brown-and-gold uniform, Preller dipped into a position of strength by trading Allen. After dominating the Pacific Coast League, Allen hit a puny .215/.282/.277 with the Padres. Despite posting substantial framing numbers, Allen has always struggled with throwing out potential base-stealers as opposing players went 8-for-9 in stolen base attempts with Allen behind the dish.
San Diego has plenty of options at both the Major and Minor league level concerning backstops. Austin Hedges and Francisco Mejia will share duties (unless an unforeseen trade occurs) at the Major League level while Luis Torrens, Luis Campusano, and Blake Hunt are all options in the minors.
With the addition of Profar, the Padres seem to be set at second base. However, with Greg Garcia and Ian Kinsler still on the roster (for now), it will be interesting to see how Jayce Tingler sets his new chess piece in motion come 2020.
I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.
I prefer to think in a positive fashion with Preller’s moves. I believe we needed another right handed starter and we got Davies who has a better history than Lauer. We needed another outfielder who hits from the left side and we got Grisham who is better than Margot. We needed another arm in the bull pen and we got Pomeranz. I think we can all agree that was a positive move. I did not like giving up on Urias but since we did add Profar, I believe he has the potential to be an upgrade at least over Kinsler, France or Garcia. Now if he can pull off some real moves and trade for Marte and sign Peralta from Arizona, and one more starter I would be a happy fan. We have a lot of trade chips (although not a lot of value) in Hedges, Kinsler, Perdromo, Margot and Myers, and the farm system.
Very stupid trade
Hit the panic button now!!! For all of those ready to jump ship, grab your parachutes now Before they run out. What did you expect from a team with 70 wins. You all have overvalued what bullets are in the chamber. AA is a prospect and they are trying to do something now. AJ is screwed either way with you guys. Sitting idly by doing nothing or being creative with the options you have. He’s trying to do something which speaks volumes, I’ll stay for the ride on the bandwagon!!!
PS when you decide you want back on, just be polite and take a backseat.
Actually that is my beef. With all the assets you have available for deals, you come up with Profar? How about packaging some of those assets for someone like Merryfield. Be creative and go bigger. I am not jumping of the ship (Been here since 1969) disappointed this team’s management is happy being a bottom feeder for so many years.
So far, I am disapppointed with Prellers’s moves. I was hoping to get an outfielder better than Grissom. If you look at his minor league stats, he never hit for decent average and had no power until last season. To me that was a big gamble. Profar is not much of an upgrade at second. So our everyday line-up so far does not look improved. The only pickup I like so far is Davis, which improves our starting pitching. If this is it for Preller, I give the off-season a D+
Why doesn’t anyone look at this guys stats before bashing the move? All of his K and BB rates were the same as 18′. His hard hit % was the same as 18′. His contact rate and swinging strike rates were the same as 18′ His BAPIP was down by 50 points. That is purely bad luck. Franmil had the same issue last season and no one was calling him a waste etc…. He did struggle with errors last year, but he still produced a 1.3 WAR, which is the same as France/Kinsler/Urias/Garcia produced for us last year. Padres 2B produced a .129 ISO in 19′. Profar had a .192. Padres 2B had 84 wRC+ in 19′, Profar had an 89. Padres 2B slashed .226/.323./.361/.684 with 16 HR and 61 RBI and a .265 BAPIP. Profar slashed .218/.301/.410/.711 with 20 HR and 67 RBI and a.218 BAPIP. I’ll take Profar’s slash line all day long especially when he struck out 50 less times than all our 2B at bats. We need guys that do not strike out. Grisham and Profar will both help put the ball in play. Not to mention that Profar produced .62 clutch rating. Padres 2B produced a -.60. This is an upgrade. Not a huge upgrade, but an upgrade nonetheless.
Jurikson is an upgrade over Urias and Kinsler in 2020, no doubt about it. In 3 years maybe not, but in 3 years we will have Xavier or CJ at the keystone and they are both better prospects than Urias was/is.
And losing Allen doesn’t matter. The only was he was getting AB’s is if Hedges or Mejia got hurt. Campusano is the C of the future, not Austin Allen.
Gabe……NAILED IT!
“Jurikson is an upgrade over Urias and Kinsler in 2020, no doubt about it.”
I’ll give you Kinsler but Urias???? No effing way.
“… but in 3 years we will have Xavier or CJ at the keystone and they are both better prospects than Urias was/is.”
They aren’t guaranteed to be better than Urias. Or even to be starters.
Look at his stats? I like statistics, I looked at the stats, and I think they can be useful, but they can be twisted in one’s favor. As the saying goes: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Case in point:
Profar had one, ONE above-average year offensively.
Again, he had one decent/good-but-not-great year, but only on offense. One. AND he had 4 or 5 below average years. On top of this, his defense has been horrible (he nearly led the league in errors).
Pro-Preller-Peeps insist we focus mainly on that one year, and the potential for a good year next year. I hope so. But please do not discount the reality of his performance over his entire career, on offense and defense. Also, he was going to get cut, so Preller had the leverage, but got leveraged. AND he still owes the A’s a player, as well as the Brewers!
At a cost of 5M plus! Average ball players can be had for less in FA without giving anything away.
Not a fan. Guy doesn’t seem any better than France. If Preller was a QB he’d be one that eyes down his receivers. He gets so set on his guys, especially the ex-Rangers that A’s were able to take advantage. We’ve now added about 20M in payroll without really moving the needle anywhere.
Great analogy Joe. But that is Preller for you, spending assets, but not advancing. In fact, they are declining.
Maybe we’ll get lucky and Preller will be the player to be named later… later today maybe?
This really makes ZERO sense. For 5 million plus! What the @&%# AJ? Do they actually pay you to figure this out? The Pads deserve a refund!
Ugh. Yet another player who cannot field his position, it’s almost a compulsion for Preller.
Wow, I like how you spin this. Profar does nothing to move the needle. If anything, the team is worse. Over his cumulative 5 years he is below average. He has horrible defense. Yet this makes for a perfect right-side of the infield duo with Hosmer (below average, horrible defense, making the team worse). There were SO MANY more options!!!!
If they really wanted him the could have had him for free, most likely. Yet they gave up one known asset (of whatever worth), and they will have to give another player (PTBNL)!!!
“Profar was likely to be non-tendered before the 8 p.m. ET deadline, and Oakland wound up getting Allen, 25 with some pop.”
Has anyone else noticed that other teams always get an additional player out of Preller-the-Padres-killer. I believe it there was at least one or two in the Trammel trade, and there was one in the Urias trade, and then this one. It seems every GM knows they can leverage the pants off of Preller. Yet when he is the one with the leverage (as with Hosmer, or with a player soon to be cut, with Brad Hand) he is forced to give up even MORE?
Perhaps part of this is not his fault, it has been advertised that he could easily get fired. (Yay!) Therefore other teams know he is very desperate–that, and his reputation (deserved, or not) for cheating. This is a recipe for getting swindled. Perhaps even Preller knows he has to give up even more just to make a deal, but there was no need with Profar, especially given all of the 2B’s out there (Villar would have been great).
Preller has no reputation for cheating. You are an idiot.
Ah, the kid shows up, and with insults and ignorance, and fiercely defying reality. It is time to try something else. Seriously.
Do a search with Preller and “cheats”/”cheating,” and then make the necessary corrections. And, like I said, it may or may not be deserved, but it is there.
No it is not there you moron. If anyone cheated, it was the Red Sox and Marlins. All the Tommy John pitchers from the trades you are referring to ended up in San Diego. Go have mommy change your stinky diaper and go back to watching Teletubbies.
I’m sure you are a smart kid, but don’t waste what God has given you on ad hominems, projection, false accusations, etc. Even if your goal is merely to “win” an argument, in these you always lose, even more so when you are self-deceived into thinking this is “winning.” Try logic, reasoned dialogue, supporting your arguments with facts, etc.
@Tommy T “Kid?” Excuse me? I’m pretty sure I’m twice as old as you, if not more.
Logic says that Preller doesn’t have to overpay in trades and has ZERO reputation for cheating. And if you could look at things with an open mind as opposed to just covering your ears and going “LALALALALALALA!” you’d know that.
Preller has been suspended twice by MLB. For cheating.
Either this was a horrible attempt at sarcasm, or the idiocy here knows no limits. I noticed Ryan hasn’t bothered to address said idiocy.
Funny. We were part of the same conversation yet view the outcome differently.
Willful stupidity and denial of reality is never funny, nor is doubling down when you are embarrassingly wrong. Perhaps worst of all is you rely solely on insults rather than truth.
I’ll stick to the truth, thank you. And the truth is that Preller can trade with whoever he wants and does not have to overpay. The fact that you have no concrete proof otherwise says it all.
You can’t hang with the big dogs LB. Stay on the porch.
I said the same thing. Ever since Preller was suspended for keeping a second set of medical records he’s had to pay more than he should have in trades. All the more reason he should be fired.
Yes, it is painfully evident he is unable to make an even trade. Yet people seem afraid to talk about this.
Lmao and where is your proof that he is unable to make an even trade troll boy?
He hasn’t had to do anything you moron. Get a clue.
This kid is NOT the answer. We’ll be lucky to get .220 out of him. Especially at 5M arb estimate! Gave away Austin Allen+ for a few beans. That 5M could have been spent better!!! I hope he has options left.
No, no options. And he is controlled for only one year. One. And he was likely to be cut.