The Dodgers have avoided arbitration with star shortstop Trea Turner, settling on a $21MM salary, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). That marks the highest arbitration settlement of any player in this year’s class so far.
That’s not to say it’s an especially surprising figure. Turner always looked likely to land one of the top numbers of any arb-eligible player. Not only is he one of the sport’s best players, he’s headed into his fourth year of arbitration after qualifying as a Super Two in 2018. Turner settled for $13MM with the Nationals last offseason, and he’ll get an $8MM bump this year.
Still, that $21MM mark checks in a bit higher than anticipated. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected the star infielder at $19.8MM entering the offseason. He earned the bump after putting up a .328/.375/.536 line with 28 homers and 32 steals between the Dodgers and Nats. That .328 average earned him his first career batting title.
Turner will return to shortstop after kicking over to second base in deference to Corey Seager down the stretch last year. With another typical season, he’d hit the market as perhaps MLB’s top free agent next offseason.
And worth every penny.
Every player is worth every penny in aggregate. The players are the product. I have no idea why we fans are fine with the majority of the revenues going to billionaire team owners who pocket the profits. In fact they hide the profits by restive accounting.
We’d pay a lot less for tickets if ownership was open to all comers instead of requiring approval of the existing owners.
But, in Turners specific case. Heck yeah by the current pay scale he’s worth it easily.
Yeah. Albert Pujols was also worth every penny. Trout out all year, Miggy barely able to jog. Plenty of guys are massively overpaid.
I was trying to compliment Turner, nothing more.
We have options to pay less on tickets: minors, college, independent. Want the best anything and it costs.
Weasel, your misconception of how the business of baseball works is embarrassing. The majority goes to the owners because they PAY THE BILLS AND OTHER EMPLOYEES. More than just players salaries and owners profits when it comes to money. In terms of REVENUE, it’s split more in favor
of the players over the owners, more than is normal in business. In fact, once you factor in OTHER employees, the players are making out like bandits.
Weasel2 and Cosmo2….Plenty of rhetoric without much data. Both of you could have saved time, energy, and words by typing “pro-labor” and “supply side/trickle down,” respectively.
Most users of this site are aware of those perspectives.
The more baseball related point is…how many in the MLB had a greater WAR ( b OR f) than TNT in this last season?
The answer: very few, if any MLB player. He’s a stud. He does it all. He’s the only reason that Dodger fans aren’t bitter about the Seager loss.
AND, he makes sliding a work of art where he’s using a paintbrush and the rest of us are using crayon.
@paddyo875
You nailed it… I really think I would pay just to watch TTurner’s frictionless slides. In 52yrs as an MLB/Dodgers fan I can’t remember any player who mastered the art of sliding like TTurner. The first time I saw him slide I had to watch it a dozen times to look for wires, a slip-n-slide, Teflon pants…mirrors anything. To me who was always the slow kid I love watching base running artists.
Yet people think Carlos Correa is a better SS lol this guys does it all and should be the top paid player next offseason
Indeed, he’s a true 5 tool player. And one of those tools- speed- is ELITE.
Truly underrated. Next year, where does he go, Baltimore or Pittsburgh?
LA, he signs a long term deal.
Most likely, but I could see a team offering 300+ and the dodgers not matching.
I hope he does! Dodgers have a lot of money coming off the books after this season.
I’d say NYY if the Yanks are unhappy with what they get out of SS this year.
I’m in LA, we’ve already heard he likely doesn’t want to stay beyond the season.
Where did you hear that? I’ve read a lot and follow the Dodgers closely and have never heard an inkling that he isn’t happy in LA. Any source?
@ sdbaseballguy;
From the same people that told him the owner are all billionaires and that there would lower ticket pries but the owners pocket the profits.
Tell it to the Reds owner that took the advise of many here – including one writer – that “went for it” and “tried to win” so he signed a bunch of FA’s to multi-year contracts. His teams didn’t win much of anything, he didn’t generate enough revenue to pay their salaries along with his operating expenses, now he’s stuck with contracts he can’t pay – so he’s selling players off for 15 cents on the dollar doing everything he can to stay out of bankruptcy court……where the current Pirates owner took control of his franchise. Now everyone hates the guy.
Cleveland is an interesting situation. The owners have massive debt and are hardly billionaires. The fans call them “cheap” for staying within revenues. They had to get a minority owner; but he left 2 years ago to buy the KC Royals. Now the faux billionaire owners with large profits falling out of their pockets that they don’t deserve – never mind that they work 365 days a year overseeing the operation and forever meeting with MLB heads, municipal heads, lawyers up the kazoo – have been trying to find another minority owner for 2 years. You’d think with all this money they make doing nothing that potential owners would be lining up. Recently they tried to talk a guy into it and told him they could work out something whereby he could buy control of the team in 4-5 years. Apparently he had a look at the financials – including their miniscule player payroll – and hasn’t been heard from since.
Lots of franchises like that. Until MLB shares revenues equally as the other pro leagues do. In the meantime, low revenue teams have had to resort to inventive strategies to field a competitive team – usually in cycles – and many have have succeeded.
Samuel, sometimes you make some good points. Then there times like this where a reader wonders if you missed your meds or doubled up on them. This above post would be described as “loose,” if it were to describe on’e grasp in reality.
Hopefully it was just a rant.
*One’s grasp on reality/cohesive thinking*
I also heard that somewhere. Of course, he could change his mind. He won’t get a ten year deal like Corey Seager got because he turns 30 next year but I can see him getting seven years for 220 to 240.
As a Yankee fan I wish that were true but I highly doubt this comment because I’ve never heard a peep out of Turner.
Weasel, where did you hear that?
Foz71….There were rumors of that at the time of the initial trade to LA. I suspect he’s moderated that bias against West Coast teams since he’s been with LA for a short while. That would be the logical assumption.
How many cats did Trea Turner kill such that karma manifested offers from only Pittsburgh and Baltimore?
Not a Dodger’s fan but they kept the better player for sure and it’s not even close. Trea Turner might be the best all around player in the game right now. Hits plays SS and runs extremely well, the guy is no joke and is somehow underrated among fans.
Each players earnings since being part of the same trade:
Will Myers- $83,043700
Trea Turner- $46,307,100
Rockstar GM’ing all day, every day.
Myers came up in 13’, Turner in 15’. The number will be very very different in the end. I imagine Turner will earn 2 or 3 times Myers.
You’re missing the point. AJ Preller was not only dumb enough to trade Turner but also paid Myers when he didn’t have to. Look at how long the Nats and Dodgers have rode Turner’s arbitration years.
99socal….If that was your point in your first post, it wasn’t clear. Maybe the “rockstar GM,” was a dig on Preller.
We’re all geniuses in hindsight.
Has there been a greater “PTBNL?”
@ sdbaseballguy
Red herring argument.
What does that have to do with anything?
Since that trade we have to look at what the players have earned and how they’ve impacted their teams overall success.
We have to judge trades on what players did in their careers playing for multiple teams?
If 99socalfrc were to carry that further he could note how well the Nationals made out in that trade by factoring in the young players that they received from the Dodgers for trading them Turner along with Max. Players that will be producing to some degree with the Nats at far lower salaries.
Can you believe that the Nats also got Joe Ross in addition to Turner?
Joe is more injury prone than his brother was.
No way the Dodgers let him walk away. Not a Dodgers guy but they have to get him signed long term because if not there will be a line of teams just waiting to try.
He’s definitely a player Friedman would extend (Mookie style), but rumors are that he’s an East Coast guy and doesn’t want to sign here.
And Kershaw is a Texas guy. Funny how that works, not.
and those rumors come from the east coast
I sense TTurner got to see how a team with a real WS or bust model works. I think the general player attitudes and professional we are here to win and then have fun (they seem to have moved to winning is fun and to win you need to act like a pro not a ‘wonder of me’ guy)
Just trying to say if I was a guy like TTurner with his talent at his age, why would I not want to stay where you get paid and owner will find help when needed.
The argument against is the number of SS prospects the Dodgers have up and coming, the first in line being Amaya. Another is the Dodgers rarely extend anyone.
Amaya mmmm idk if he’s gonna hit
You never do until they get where they are going, and they don’t get where they are going if they are blocked from advancing.
True, I think of the three big guys (hitting wise) (Amaya Vargas pages) Vargas and pages will hit and Amaya ends up more of a glove guy which is fine. Not worth losing Trea, the goat, over though.
We can hope they retain Turner, but realistically I don’t think they will.
Every team will have a line drawn in the sand for how much they’ll be willing to spend. The Dodgers will have modest salary relief with this year being a $273.5M payroll and next year being $73M less, thus figure includes the expectation they’ll pickup team options for Muncy, Justin Turner and Treinin.
Trea, Kershaw and Price are the big salary UFAs while Bellinger, Urias, Buehler, Gonsolin, Graterol and Will Smith go to arbitration. That salary relief quickly depletes, becoming an important factor in re-signing Trea.
I’ve read several articles where Trea Turner is quoted as saying that he wants to be a Dodger for years. A longterm deal had not yet been discussed yet; perhaps by now, it has.
The Dodgers are trying to not have to pay the 90 percent tax this season. According to the LA Times, Kenley Jansen was asked to wait a short time until a trade could be made, so that they could re-sign him but he was impatient and went with the Braves. I think this is for the best. Both sides needed a change, in my opinion.
Things will work out if the Dodgers want a player. Friedman will find a way to get it done. 56,000 fans most nights, a big TV contract, and owners who put money back into the team, make this all possible.
T. Turner makes all the usual right noises, but personally I don’t think he is coming back next year.
FWIW, Dodger Stadium might have an official capacity of 56,000, but a sellout is around 52,200. The difference could be the covered seats on either side of the batter’s eye.
A batting title this season?
Can you say extension. Teeeheeheeeeee…………
I don’t see Swanson coming back. Braves have been linked to Correa. Turner might be a better option next season. They took Freddy, Braves take T Turner.
Let’s not get too crazy, braves fans.
I hope AF opens the dialogue with TT so he knows he wants to sign him long term.