The San Diego Padres must find a way to replace Jurickson Profar in left field, whether through signing or trading for an outfielder. Profar had an outstanding breakout season last year, posting a .280/.459/.839 slash line with 24 home runs and 85 RBIs. Replacing that kind of production won’t be easy, but the most straightforward option may be right in front of them: re-sign Profar. R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports believes this is the likely move, predicting that Profar will return to San Diego this offseason. Jon Heyman of the New York Post also forecasts that Profar will sign a two-year, $26 million deal.
“Profar is a difficult player to evaluate: all the underlying measures indicated that last season contained real gains. At the same time, teams are right to be skeptical about age-31 breakout efforts,” Anderson wrote. “For those reasons, Profar’s top outcome always seemed to be returning to the Padres. Who knows, maybe one of the teams who came up short on Teoscar Hernández — be it the (Boston) Red Sox, (New York) Mets, whoever — decides to chance it with Profar in case he can put up another year like last.”
While Profar had an outstanding season last year, it’s important to note that he’s never performed at that level throughout his career. As a result, it’s unlikely he’ll command more than $20 million per year, even with his 2024 production. Given that price range and his strong performance, it should be an easy decision for the Padres to bring him back for the next two or three years, forming a dynamic outfield alongside Fernando Tatis Jr.
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