It was on this date six years ago that the Dodgers made one of the greatest low-risk free-agent signings in recent memory. On Feb. 5, 2014, the club agreed to a minor league contract with third baseman Justin Turner, who has gone from afterthought to household name since he first donned a Dodgers uniform.
Now 35 years old, Turner was a seventh-round pick of the Reds in 2006 who took years and multiple uniforms to blossom into a quality major leaguer. Turner debuted with the Orioles in 2009, but he played almost exclusively with the Mets through 2013. While Turner didn’t exactly set the league on fire in New York, his offensive production did hover around the league-average mark.
During his 895-plate appearance run as a Met, Turner batted .265/.326/.370 (good for a 97 wRC+) while striking out just 13.1 percent of the time. Passable? Yes. But a lack of power helped cut down Turner, who hit a mere eight home runs and posted a weak .104 ISO as a member of the Mets. They wound up non-tendering him going into 2014, reportedly because they weren’t satisfied with the effort he put forth.
Turner’s power was dormant in New York (maybe his effort was, too), which is why he had to settle for a non-guaranteed deal to join the Dodgers. That pop has come to the surface in Los Angeles, though. Turner has eclipsed the .200 ISO mark in four straight seasons, though it took some time for him to become a legitimate power threat as a Dodger.
While Turner did hit an excellent .340/.404/.493 in 322 PA during his first season with the Dodgers, skepticism was warranted because that triple-slash line was buoyed by an unsustainable .404 batting average on balls in play. Indeed, Turner’s BABIP since then has fallen almost 100 points (he owns a .314 mark dating back to 2015). Nevertheless, the right-hander’s .297/.378/.508 line (139 wRC+) in 2,579 trips to the plate over the past half-decade helped make him one of the most valuable players in the game in that span, evidenced in part by a 21.9 fWAR that only 19 position players outdid from 2015-19. Turner also smacked 105 home runs during that stretch, and he did so while striking out in just 14.6 percent of PA.
Turner can attribute a large portion of his success in LA to help from Marlon Byrd, a former Orioles teammate, and a hitting coach named Doug Latta. As covered by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik in the book “The MVP Machine” (excerpt via Slate), Byrd and Latta were instrumental in getting Turner to take a more fly ball-oriented approach at the plate. Turner, his bank account and the Dodgers have all benefited from it.
Thanks to the breakout Turner enjoyed during his first couple years as a Dodger, they re-signed him to a four-year, $64MM deal entering 2017. Needless to say, that’s quite a step up from the minors pact he settled for upon first joining the team. For their part, the Dodgers have won the NL West in every season since Turner first signed with them and taken home a pair of pennants. Turner’s obviously not the sole reason they’ve been so dominant, but he has been one of their key contributors. He’s also a reminder not to discount anyone who signs a minor league contract. You never know when a breakout’s around the corner.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Best minor-league signing of all time
No brandon kintzler. All star closer for minny
Lmfao
Go ask the cubs if they agree. He’s like any other reliever, volatile
Turner has been one of the best 3 hitters in the NL since he came over, SIX FULL SEASONS AGO
Arenado, yelich, freeman, Blackmon, bellinger, harper, bell….
I dunno bout that top 3 statement….he’s good but he’s not THAT good.
Wrong go compare his numbers to those players. Turner is absolutely top 3 in the NL since 2014
Yeah… I mean #3 hitter, like in the lineup….
He’s comparable to about any bat you mention though. 139 OPS+ Since 2013 is better than Yelich, Arenado, Blackmon, Josh Bell, tied with Harper and 5 points behind Freeman+ Bellinger
So 2 of 7 were actually better than Turner, one of those 2 only has 3 years not 6 in the span. It’s just one stat of many, but the picture doesn’t change much
Keep talking out your behind. Turner has been a stud since he came here
Love how you cherry pick your stats but whatever helps you sleep at night to say I’m “talking out my behind” just cause I don’t worship the guy like you. I didn’t even say he wasn’t good. He’s just not top 3.
I NEVER SAID THAT
I said he’s a great 3 hole hitter. Like in the batting order
But since you wanted to pretend those guys are all better than Turner, I decided to also prove you wrong. OPS+ takes into account OBP, power and park factors. But yes, just one stat. I even checked all the other stats first
But what stat do you want? I’m here to please and am quite confident any offensive stat will put turner right in the same category as the ones you mentioned, so hit me
NO YOU!
Muncy certainly rivals it
Muncy was a great signing too but I don’t think he has topped the turner signing yet (coming from a die hard dodger fan)
im just saying is simmilar really and coulr be worth a bit more over the duration of his LAD stay.
New swing from Turner was perfected by the staff(he had come up with basics while in NY the story goes)…
Since then, C. Taylor, Muncy, Joc last year, Lux, Smith and numerous others have adopted a rendition of Turner’s
What a deal indeed. And he’s a Titan alum! Haha
“Swing adjustment”. Lol so that’s what they’re calling it these days.
Of course. Who could forget barry bonds famous swing adjustment he learned, amazingly after an entire life in baseball, in his late 30s.
The only difference is Turner didn’t put on 50 pounds of muscle and his head didn’t double in size.
And to my knowledge, Turner has yet to attempt to murder know curmudgeon and motorcycle enthusiast Jeff Kent
His wallet did. And that’s all that matters baby
Triple?
But he has had the telltale beard enlargement…
Yet it was Ortiz who had that otherworldy age 40 season, on notoriously bad feet no less. And his head was already double-sized.
You bring up Ortiz more than any Red Sox fan here. It’s so obvious you’re obsessed with him, it’s kind of cute.
dynamite drop
I freely admit Ortiz is my one Red Sox pet peeve. I bring him up a couple of times a month, when there’s a lead in. On the other hand, we have Red Sox fans who hit on the Yankees pretty much every day, sometimes more than once. We have one RS daily regular who talks about little else. He even writes poems about it. My “obsession”, as you call it, is nothing in comparison to the RS competition… Not even close. Maybe you could write about how cute they are.
Justin Turner to Barry Bonds to Yankees fans v. Red Sox fans. This train didn’t just go off the rails it somehow launched itself into space.
Bonds had power his whole life. Turner didn’t.
I know dude, I’m just having a lark.
The Clear.
Go look up 2011, 2012 JT. He was trying to be a slap hitter With a good batting eye, and didn’t use his lower half
Then watch his swing in 2018/2019. His hips are leading the way, not his wrists. It’s a completely overloaded process. He’s talked at great lengths about it over the years
It’s the basics of hitting for power, and as I said, multiple current dodgers have also adopted the same general swing
..but of course MLBTR Comments has to accuse any player ever that has broken out, he’s a PED monster
This lol. Why would you accuse him of roids when you can literally pull up tape to see the drastically different swings? Or Google “Justin Turner change swing” and see an MLB.com and FanGraphs article about it, as well as two videos titled “Justin Turner Breaks Down His Swing Change” without even having to scroll down. Absolutely absurd.
Great signing. Great guy.
heck if anyone had predicted this.
“He’s (Turner) also a reminder not to discount anyone who signs a minor league contract. You never know when a breakout’s around the corner.”
Can we quantify that? How many Minor contracts signed prior to 2019, made the MLB roster and then performed very well (choose a WAR point?).
I’d bet well under 5% ?
Well LAD has done very well
Turner+ Muncy will hit 2-3 next year in the best lineup in the NL. Both off the scrap heap
It’s coaching that changes guys. These 26-28 year olds didn’t suddenly lose all their natural talent
It’s also finding guys willing to change and be coached. So many alpha males are too headstrong to change what worked for them their whole life.
The better way to say this is:
There’s likely a very big discrepancies on successes for well run teams- LAD, Rays, NYY, HOU, even Zaidi in SF already has stolen a starting 2B off waivers… their percentage of “hitting” on a minor league deal is going to be much different than, say, Pittsburgh’s
Below was a more interesting transaction that occurred on this day.
February 5, 2004: Russel Branyan Signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.
April 25, 2004: Traded by the Atlanta Braves to the Cleveland Indians for Scott Sturkie (minors).
July 26, 2004: Sent to the Milwaukee Brewers by the Cleveland Indians as part of a conditional deal.
Lmao….but he sucks…..
Think you mean “here’s something I care about because I’m a Braves fan”
Thanks for playing
Love me some JT. Thank you Mets for being you..
Byrd was Turner’s Mets teammate in 2013. Byrd never played for Baltimore.
Sounds like the Brewers need to hire Byrd as a hitting coach then
Byrd gave JT sum PEDs, Turner is just smarter.
that is what it sounds like
Marlon Byrd eh? Hmmm…wasn’t he associated with, or suspected of, using roids at one time? I’ll bet he helped with a weak guy who had no power who all of a sudden “found” that power. I’m not saying, I’m just sayin’…
Roid pals
Here we go!
He’s also a real class act and a fabulous teammate.
One of the few major leaguers who deserves to be a captain in the game atm
I hope this is what Danny Santana is going to do for the rangers.