An 80-game suspension wasn’t enough. Nope. Jurickson Profar enjoyed his vacation last year so much, he decided to do it again. Except this time, his vacation will be the entire season. However, he is sacrificing his entire $15 million salary. So that can hurt vacation plans a little.
But seriously, how does this happen again? As the headline says, you had one job. Just don’t get suspended again. That’s it. Even if you suck, guess what? You still collect your $15 million. I truly just can’t understand this. Fans of the Braves were perhaps able to forgive the first suspension and chalk it up as a mistake. But to do it again the very next year? That’s different. I assume both the fans and organization are done with this guy. Just to clarify, second offenses for this in the MLB are an automatic 162 games. In 2025, Profar lost half of his $12 million salary. When you now factor in this season’s full $15 million salary, he has forfeited $21 million in 2 years due to suspensions.
Teammates must be fed up too. The Braves were viewed as World Series contenders, and that window may be closing real quick. You look at a guy like Ronald Acuna Jr. and feel bad for him with the injuries he has sustained. And then you look at Jurickson Profar and simply think “what the hell are you doing?!” I read the first suspension was due to testing positive for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Apparently it is a hormone that can stimulate testosterone production. It would actually be hilarious if it is the same exact substance he tested positive for again this year, but there has been no confirmation as of yet. I’m struggling to find much sympathy here. I would also be surprised if teammates and the organization want him back at all after this. This is just bad decision-making, not bad luck.
Admittedly I’m not the biggest MLB fan in the world. The no salary cap makes it difficult for me to get into baseball, as I get tired of watching the Dodgers just scoop up all the best free agents every year. Like if you’re a fan of the Colorado Rockies or Pittsburgh Pirates, do you even get excited for the start of the season? You’re just never going to compete with the big boys like the Dodgers and Yankees given their salaries. Sorry, I’m wandering a bit here.
Which brings me to a question though, are PED’s back just to try and compete with the Dodgers? Maybe these teams are politely suggesting their players take some PED’s since they can’t keep up with the Dodgers in terms of salary. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying as they say! So maybe this is just a way for MLB teams to try and keep up with the big bad Dodgers. (Relax, I’m kidding… mostly.)
Jokes aside, at some point this stops being about supplements or mistakes and starts being about choices. And when you’re making millions to play a game and have access to all of the resources that they do, “I didn’t know” just doesn’t cut it for me.
Would you want this guy back in your clubhouse next year?
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