Texas Rangers: Which of these five teams will land Jurickson Profar?

Will the Oakland A’s intrude on the Texas Rangers’ roster?

Oakland is not in dire need of a second baseman, though they’d certainly like to avoid a major performance drop off after watching Jed Lowrie go to free agency. Lowrie was their primary three-hole hitter a season ago.

The Athletics may want to afford Franklin Barreto an everyday role in ’18. Plus, they always seem to have plenty of formidable fill-in players. Matt Chapman isn’t going anywhere at the hot corner and Marcus Semien put forth a quietly solid year for them at shortstop.

If the A’s really want Profar, it’ll come down to them nickel-and-diming the Rangers for a fair trade. We know that the small market Oakland Athletics don’t like to invest in free agents, but it would not be surprising if they brought back Lowrie on a team friendly contract.

It’ll be interesting to see how they play it. Barreto taking over at 2B seems likely, and so does re-signing Lowrie. Acquiring Profar seems less likely; however, that’s only because most trade talks fizzle out.

I will say a great gap-to-gap hitter would have some fun in that giant ballpark they call Oakland Alameda. Though, combating my own comment, Profar hit just .190 with one double in 23 plate appearances there last season.

Chance Profar lands with the Athletics: 10%