Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
As everyone knows by now, the Texas Rangers signed shortstop Elvis Andrus to an eight year deal keeping him in Arlington until 2022 with a 2023 vesting option, barring trade.
Because of this Jurickson Profar, who is the number one prospect in baseball, is being blocked at his main position.
The Rangers could move Profar to second base and either move Ian Kinsler somewhere else or shop Kinsler. All that shows though, is that Profar is being blocked at both positions that he is known to play.
He could move to the outfield, but the Rangers notably just got rid of a young center fielder in Julio Borbon. The Rangers don’t need any more young outfielders.
The option all of this leaves open is the idea of trading Profar. The Rangers were admittedly against the idea whenever it was brought up last season, but now everything has changed.
There are many teams that would be interested in Profar and willing to pay a lot for him. One rumor I heard was Profar to the St. Louis Cardinals for Oscar Taveras who is the number three overall prospect.
That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because as I said a couple paragraphs ago, the Rangers don’t need any more young outfielders.
What the Rangers really need is young pitching. Its unrealistic but maybe Dylan Bundy from the Baltimore Orioles or Taijuan Walker from the Seattle Mariners would be on the table.
My favorite option would be to trade Profar to Seattle for Walker. It benefits both teams very much. The Mariners need a good young shortstop and the Rangers need pitching.
