The Pirates have traded left-hander Nik Turley to the Athletics in exchange for cash, per an announcement from the A’s. Pittsburgh designated Turley for assignment earlier this week upon claiming outfielder Troy Stokes Jr. from Detroit.
Turley, 31, tossed 21 2/3 innings with the Pirates this past season but struggled to keep runs off the board and to limit free passes. Between that Pirates stint and a similarly brief look with the Twins back in 2017, the southpaw carries a career 7.78 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 19 walks in 39 1/3 frames.
Unsightly as those numbers may be, Turley has elite spin rates on his curveball and particularly on his four-seam fastball, which checked in at an average of 94.5 mph in 2020. He’s also posted strong numbers in the upper minors. His 2017 minor league output with the Twins was particularly encouraging, as he worked to a 2.05 ERA with a superlative 124-to-29 K/BB ratio in 92 innings. Turley struck out a whopping 34.5 percent of hitters he faced between Double-A and Triple-A that season while walking just 8.1 percent of his opponents.
Turley hasn’t pitched in the minors since that 2017 showing, however. An 80-game PED suspension wiped out the first half his 2018 season after the Pirates claimed him from the Twins, and he was immediately placed on the 60-day injured list upon being activated thanks to an elbow strain he sustained while ramping up toward the end of his suspension window. He ultimately required Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2019 campaign as well.
Turley is out of minor league options, so if he survives the winter on Oakland’s 40-man roster, he’ll have to break camp with the club or else again be exposed to waivers. He’ll give the A’s another lefty to pair with Jake Diekman, who could be the favorite for ninth-inning work now that Liam Hendriks has departed for the White Sox in free agency.
The fire sale continues!
When will MLB wake up and see what Pirates business model is?
Would rather trade for cash vs prospects,etc. Good grief!
A’s next unknown closer.
Things about Nik Turley:
He was born on 9/11 … in 1989
He’s not Canadian, but is from La Canada
He didn’t go to Harvard but went to Harvard-Westlake
He’s the fifth oldest player on the A’s
The only A’s player that had pro-baseball contract before Nik Turley was Jake Diekman
He’s a last round draft pick
Despite popular myth, there is no “C” in Nik Turley
That is every fact about Nik Turley
His middle name is Carlyle
So the C is just in a different place, Nik C Turley.
he’s a distant relative of Bob Turley
This is awesome.
Best post of 2021 on here by a long, long way….
Another to add: He is a distant relative of NY Yankee pitcher Bob Turley. I only know this since he was drafted by the Yankees and was always curious if there was a connection.
Isn’t he Manny Machado’s brother in law?
ha!
Diekman as closer…looks good after last year, but its Jake Diekman we’re talking about here.
Can you all post something about the International Signings that are happening. I think Heyman has tweeted about 2-3 by now.
Those agreements have been known for months, first reported by Ben Badler over at Baseball America. We’ll do some type of roundup of notable international signings tomorrow, but international deals for teenage kids aren’t a huge point of focus for us — due largely to pushback from readers when we used to focus more heavily on them.
For what it’s worth, we noted the Astros and Pedro Leon nearly a year ago, when the agreement was first reported:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/02/quick-hits-young-torre-intl-prospects-leon-franco.html
Not a knock on Heyman or anything, but nothing he’s reporting is new.
I’d have no issue if you guys covered those signings too, although I also subscribe to BA, so I don’t actually expect those signings here.
Hi Caleb, I think Tomorrow is the official start of the International players Signing day.
Here is where the top 10 international guys will be signing tomorrow;
Cespedes – White Sox
Wilman Diaz – Dodgers
Christian Hernandez – Cubs
Carlos Colmenarez – Rays
Pedro Leon = Astros
Armando Cruz – Nationals
Jesus Galiz – Yankees
Ricardo Perez – Phillies
Yiddi Cappe – Marlins
that’s Cappe bro, that’s Cappe
A lot of people maligning this deal, but it’s clearly Turley to tell.
Fouled away, the count on tommy black Sox remains 0 & 2
Hope ya like bean dip
Called strike 3! Tommy goes down looking, again.
You have plenty of room for improvement if you’re going to reach the groupie levels of your fellow buzzing gnats lolmetzy and GuestsOrWhatever. Go lap in the wake of someone else, you unenterprising lummox.
Lol, love your lexicon & how you’re always throwing out big $10 words, not only am I a lummox but an unenterprising one at that. I’ll keep trying while you ponder this,
“It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing your whole life.” – Mickey Mantle
You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I’m an easy target. Yeah, you’re right, I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you… but I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings. Well, you think what you want about me; I’m not changing. I like… I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. ‘Cause I’m the real article. What you see is what you get.
Hey pal, I’m not trying to hurt you, actually I think a lot of your posts are pretty clever & funny. I was just trying to defend myself after you came at me like a spider monkey yesterday. Truce?
You’re the guy who tried to get my cab. I knew I knew you! You scared the bejesus out of me. Come to think of it it was easy to get a cab during rush hour.
That’s like the 5th time with the John Candy. If you’re going to copy and paste, then re-use your “hey guys it’s so great that I’m not a racist” post. Now THAT was hilarious! Then everyone can pat you on the back and say “Hey Xabial, you are so noble. We learned from you today”! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Funny enough, I was just talking to my friend about that. Our speedometer has melted and as a result it’s very hard to see with any degree of accuracy exactly how fast we were going.
Yea you’re right pal, that was me, I was trying to rush home b4 the hookers got there, I’ll buy you a drink the next time I see ya in the city.
Your wife is having an affair with Bill Barr and your customers are waiting for your bankruptcy.
Have a nice day.
I love dynamite drop in Monty
I love you too, buddy.
Watch Turley outperform Hendriks lol
This being the A’s, he’ll turn into a gem.
This move will fill the PNC Park
Cheap twins: A’s and Pirates! Time to sale both franchises for the better part of their fans, c’mon!
What about the Rays and Indians.
Not twins, the A’s win!
Great pick up. Guy misses bats. Will see, but pirates couldn’t find a weaker player to drop.
he’s also 31 and is probably only doing anything of value because he’s juiced again. explains why he broke out in 2017.
Will be the A’s closer by September.
Also will have a sub-2.00 ERA.
Because it’s the A’s, they do this with relievers.
Been eating good Marty McGravy?!
for cash that Nutting will use to buy a ps5 for himself….
Nope. He is saving that cash for a new ski lift
He was pretty good in MLB The Show 16.
nutting wallet geting cash to help out with bonuses
This crap of Pirates trading players for cash has to be stopped.
Finally making some big moves!