Jurickson Profar, a Padres fan favorite whose career-best season last year at age 31 paid off in a huge contract with the Atlanta Braves, said Monday he did not knowingly use a banned performance-enhancing substance for which Major League Baseball this week suspended him 80 games.
Profar tested positive for a hormone that helps in the production of testosterone. It’s the same drug that Manny Ramirez was suspended for using in 2009 with the Dodgers at age 37, reported The Athletic.
“I would never willingly take a banned substance,” said Profar, “but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”
Profar called Monday the most difficult day of his career and said he would never knowingly cheat.
Whenever a PED suspension is announced, including the one in 2022 that sidelined Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr., the same question arises: Why would a player risk using any supplement that’s not approved by Major League Baseball?
The logical answer is he believed it would benefit him, and that he could avoid detection.
Some suspended players have contended they took MLB-approved products that were tainted without their knowledge. Others have claimed the banned substances were in products they used for training or other purposes. In track and field, an American star who tested positive for an anabolic steroid argued it came from a pork burrito she bought at a food truck.
The financial stakes for one season of MLB performance can be immense, as Profar showed.
Profar signed with the Padres for just $1 million a year ago, then became either San Diego’s MVP or runner-up MVP to Jackson Merrill by setting new career marks in several categories.
Profar blew away several of his career standards. His on-base percentage (.380) and slugging percentage (.471) were 49 points and 76 points higher than his career averages respectively. His adjusted OPS, which had been two points below the MLB average for his career, landed 34 points above MLB’s average. His 24 home runs were a career high, and his FanGraphs-estimated 4.3 win shares nearly doubled his prior career-best mark of 2.4 set with the 2022 Padres.
Profar then hit free agency, and the Braves signed him to a three-year, $42 million contract.
In a team statement, the Braves said they were “surprised and extremely disappointed” to learn of Profar’s violation of the MLB policy and expressed hope that Profar will learn from the experience.
When evaluating and projecting player performance, MLB teams for many years have tried to account for whether a player has or will use performance-enhancing drugs.
Years ago, a previous Padres front office chose not to try to retain a veteran player who had been productive because it believed he had used steroids and might soon get off of them.
A Padres executive, also in a past era, wondered if a San Diego player facing a health challenge unrelated to baseball could receive a performance-enhancing benefit from his drug treatment. When it was decided that wouldn’t be the case, the team moved on from him.
Having the best information on players is the goal of every MLB team and, in both the professional and amateur markets, seems to be a growing strength of Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller.
Preller was with the Texas Rangers when they signed Profar out of Curacao at 16. Preller and the Padres acquired Profar in a December 2019 trade with Oakland, then re-signed him at the end of the 2020 season. After Profar struggled with the Rockies in 2023 and was cut, the Padres brought him back for a late-season cameo. Then the club inked him to a one-year, $1 million deal for 2024.
Profar’s five seasons with the Padres gave Preller additional insights when he entered free agency the past two Novembers.
The windfalls the Padres’ franchise reaped from Profar’s great 2024 season may have included the wild-card playoff spot that led to four high-revenue crowds filling Petco Park in the postseason. With 93 wins, the Padres were able to hold off a trio of 89-win teams for the first of three wild cards. Profar was paid so little, at just $1 million, that he freed up money to spend on other players. This came at a time when ownership reduced payroll by about $90 million.
The Padres declined to make Profar a qualifying offer at the end of last season. He remained unsigned until mid-January, when the Braves pledged him $42 million to solve their leadoff problems.
“Some red flags were raised around baseball, albeit whispers rather than public accusations, after Profar had a career-best season for the San Diego Padres in 2024,” Braves beat writer Dave O’Brien wrote this week for The Athletic. “But the Braves attributed his power and overall offensive gains to adjustments Profar made with his lower body in his batting stance, after working out with Fernando Tatis Jr. and his dad the previous winter.”
The availability of players can decide which teams reach the postseason and which one raises the World Series trophy. The Padres have been winning in this health-and-availability realm. For example, four players Preller traded either last offseason or during the season have all since suffered injuries that required season-ending surgeries. Those three trades all benefited the Padres.
Letting Profar walk in free agency when so many Padres fans wanted the front office to keep him has already paid off. One of Profar’s replacements, Gavin Sheets, hit a critical home run in the season-opening win.
And now, what’s bad for the Braves is good for the Padres, given that both teams could be in contention for the same wild-card playoff spots.
Atlanta won’t have Profar until late June, nor will he be eligible for the postseason. Although the Braves won’t have to pay him $5,806,440 of his $12 million salary, the $15 million he’s due each of the next two seasons is still fully guaranteed.
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