A's trade Profar to Padres for C Allen, PTBNL

OAKLAND -- The A’s will look to go into a new direction at second base for the upcoming season.

Jurickson Profar was traded to the Padres before Monday’s 5 p.m. PT non-tender deadline, ending his tenure with Oakland after just one season. The A’s received catcher Austin Allen and a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Turning 27 years old by the start of the 2020 season, Profar is set to go through his final year of arbitration. With MLBTradeRumors.com projecting a salary increase to around $5.8 million for the second baseman, the A’s could view this as an opportunity to save the money for a more pressing need like relief help or a backup catcher.

The trade reunites Profar with Padres general manager A.J. Preller, who was working in the Rangers' front office when the team signed Profar as an international free agent in 2009.

The A’s acquired Profar last offseason from the Rangers in a three-team deal that sent reliever Emilio Pagán to the Rays. There were flashes of good hitting skills at times throughout the season, but Profar’s overall body of work, which included a .218 batting average over 139 games and 13 errors on defense, left the A’s looking to make a change.

The depth of in-house second-base options also made Profar expendable. Sheldon Neuse, the A’s No. 8 prospect per MLB Pipeline, impressed both on offense and defense in his time with Oakland over the final month of the season. Franklin Barreto, once considered the top prospect in the organization, and Jorge Mateo, Oakland’s No. 4 prospect, are also out of Minor League options and could be in line to join Neuse in a competition for the second-base job in Spring Training.

Allen, 25, is a left-handed-hitting catcher who could serve as a complement to Sean Murphy in a backup role. He hit only .215 in 34 games with the Padres last year, but mashed at Triple-A, slashing .330/.379/.663 with 21 home runs and 67 RBIs in 67 games.