Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar is still owed $15 million for 2027, yet nobody in the organization has reportedly heard from him. Two PED suspensions, a changed phone number, and a Venezuelan winter ball deal have made this offseason messy.
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“Jurickson Profar ‘disappeared off the face of the Earth’ after his 2nd PED suspension, per @scottcoleman55,” Punchoutpitch wrote on X. “He reportedly changed his phone number, and nobody has heard from him, including his teammates.”
Profar tested positive for exogenous testosterone in March, right before the World Baseball Classic and Opening Day. MLB handed him a full 162-game ban, which cost him his entire $15 million salary for 2026.
“There isn’t anything that prevents me from talking about it,” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos told Bowman when asked about Profar during his end-of-season media availability.
While Anthopoulos did not divulge any specific leanings on the matter, the Braves didn’t have to pay Profar for the duration of his suspension, thus saving quite a bit on the contract. “What I can tell you is, we’re going to have to sit and talk internally just across the board about the whole thing,” Anthopoulos added at the same end-of-season meeting.
There is no room for maneuver for the Braves, as Profar is owed $15 million in 2027, the final season of his January 2025 contract. The trouble started early in his tenure. Profar was suspended for 80 games right after Opening Day 2025 after testing positive for human chorionic gonadotropin, but came back in July and hit .245/.353/.434 with 14 home runs in 80 games.
Profar became the sixth repeat offender to be banned for a whole season under MLB’s drug policy. A third offense would result in a lifetime ban from the league. He joins Jenrry Mejia (2015), Marlon Byrd (2016), Francis Martes (2020), Robinson Cano (2020) and J.C. Mejia (2023) in receiving an automatic 162-game suspension since the league toughened its rules against repeat offenders in 2014. He is an unusual case for a switch-hitter whose professional career started in 2012 with the Texas Rangers.
But Profar has not completely disappeared from the picture, as Tiburones de La Guaira revealed on Sept. 27 that the 33-year-old outfielder will play for the Venezuelan club during the 2026-27 winter ball season after skipping the entire 2026 season.
Lindsay Crosby reported the signing on X, and the club also listed Profar among its imports, giving him live at-bats against professional pitching before the final year of his deal.
The Braves finished the season with a 94-68 record and won the National League East division title. However, the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to win three out of the four games in the division series.
Anthopoulos has kept quiet so far, and with Profar turning 34 in February and only having one more guaranteed season, management finds itself facing a decision regarding a player with whom no one in the organization has apparently communicated.