The Atlanta Braves had a slow offseason. Like, a really slow offseason.
Their biggest move, by far, was the signing of outfielder Jurickson Profar. They gave the former San Diego Padres utility man a three-year deal worth $42 million, and all appeared well heading into Opening Day.
Well, four games into the 2025 season, that big offseason splurge is going to be out of the lineup for quite a while.
Jurickson Profar suspended 80 games. tested positive for PED called hCG. @mikedeportes 1St
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 31, 2025
There's obviously a lot of questions about how Profar's suspension went down. Did the Braves know something was awry before they signed him, or even before the suspension was levied? Did Profar take the performance-enhancing drugs after signing his deal with the team?
Either way, his half-season suspension is a huge blow to a Braves team is still trying to weather the storm of injuries.
Jurickson Profar suspension puts reeling Braves on the early-season ropes
Now, in fairness to the Braves, they didn't do literally nothing this offseason.
They made some picks in the Rule 5 Draft, swung a couple of trades with the Los Angeles Angels, and they inked Bryan De La Cruz to a major league contract, but in the face of what the Dodgers have been doing on the West Coast, the Braves watched the gap between themselves and the NL's best widen this winter.
Profar, a former top prospect more than a decade ago, finally broke out in 2024, slashing .280/.380/.459 (139 wRC+) in 158 games for the Padres. He accumulated 4.3 fWAR, which was more than double his previous highest total.
Sure, some will say that, in hindsight, it's obvious that a guy who had never posted a single-season OPS above .793 was obviously juicing in order to bump it up to .839 in his age-31 season. And maybe that's true — it certainly wouldn't be the first time a player turned to non-authentic means in order to enhance their performance.
But, what stuck out most about his first All-Star campaign was that Profar finally found a defensive home. After playing every position on the diamond besides catcher and pitcher prior to 2024, he played a league-leading 148 games out in left field. Ask Rafael Devers how important it is to have game-to-game consitency on where you play in the field.
With Profar out, the 0-5 Braves currently have Jarred Kelenic penciled into left field on their depth chart. Sure, that will probably change once Ronald Acuña Jr. is back in the line up, but there's no telling if he'll be the same MVP-caliber player coming back from the second torn ACL in his career.
The Braves very clearly could have been more proactive this offseason in patching up holes on the roster. They were content with doing "just enough".
Now, just enough is suspended for the next three months. Good luck to Atlanta trying to navigate an NL East ruled by Juan Soto and Bryce Harper with their lone marquee addition not around.