Seattle Mariners Trade a Day: Jurickson Profar

BOSTON, MA - JULY 11: Jurickson Profar #19 of the Texas Rangers throws to first base in the first inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on July 11, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JULY 11: Jurickson Profar #19 of the Texas Rangers throws to first base in the first inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on July 11, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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Why in the world would our Mariners need or want Jurickson Profar? For starters, who wouldn’t rather play on a contender versus the last place team? As far as utility middle infielders go, he’s not Andrew Romine!

Romine has been a tough player to watch. Through 46 games with the Mariners, Romine is batting a dismal .203 and is headed to the same franchise Hall of Fame as Jeff Cirillo and Scott Spiezio.

In all reality, Jurickson Profar is a mediocre middle infielder at best. Through 291 big league games, he’s posted a batting average of .234 with an on-base percentage of .315.

Why not acquire Jurickson Profar on the cheap? After all, he’s not the most expensive player out there with his one-year, $1,050,000 Rangers contract. And occupying the cellar, the Rangers will sell more than buying.

Profar’s 2018 average is a whole 40 points higher than team MVP Romine’s. Now a .243 average is not exactly impressive but our Mariners have too many Mendoza-line players and Profar can at least hit a baseball more than Romine. We need to take stock in numbers and Profar is a utility man with a bit better numbers.

A trade for Profar may seem minimalist now, but what if Dee or Jean get injured? Wouldn’t you take the guy closer to .250 than to Mendoza any day? If Andrew Romine is our remaining option, we need to work on our depth. In this game, a higher batting average by any amount of points makes a difference.

Despite neither Romine or Profar being in the same class as a Mark Mclemore or Willie Bloomquist, Romine is too much of a liability. Here’s our proposal

Mariners get: INF Jurickson Profar

Rangers get INF Gordon Beckham, Luis Liberato

In this proposal, the Rangers get a utility man back for the remainder of 2018, as well as the toolsy type of player they seem to covet added to their system. Liberato has above-average run, field, and arm tools. He also has some good pop. There very well may be a Gerardo Parra type of player in there if they can reach him.

The Mariners have no need for such a player who is at least 2 years from maybe making an impact. But the Texas Rangers do.