The Marlins have made an offer to free-agent corner infielder Justin Turner, per Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. There are other teams interested, per the report, but Miami’s offer is generally viewed as a “competitive” one. In addition to the Marlins, Turner has received interest from the incumbent Dodgers — who declined a $16MM club option on him — as well as the Diamondbacks.
Turner, 38, would give the Marlins a direly needed right-handed bat to help with the team’s miserable production against left-handed pitching. Miami was the worst team in baseball against lefties in 2022, and it wasn’t particularly close, as Marlins hitters turned in a .208/.273/.325 batting line versus southpaws. That resulted in a 71 wRC+, which trailed the 29th-ranked D-backs by a measure of 10 points and suggested that Miami hitters were 29% worse than league average against lefties (after weighting for home park and league environment).
As such, a veteran of Turner’s stature would be a massive boon to Miami’s run-scoring potential. The longtime Dodgers slugger posted a .275./349/.389 batting line against lefties in 2022 and carries a stout .276/.358/.460 output against left-handed pitchers over the course of a 14-year career in the Majors. Setting aside his platoon splits, Turner batted .278/.350/.438 in 2022 (123 wRC+) and has been at least 23% better than league average at the plate in each season dating back to 2014.
With the Marlins, the expectation would be that Turner would split his time between third base, first base and designated hitter. Turner has scarcely played first base in the Majors, logging just 238 innings in his career — none since 2016. He’s long been a solid third baseman, but his defensive grades have begun to dwindle in his late 30s, and the Dodgers used him at designated hitter in about half of his 128 games in 2022. Each of Defensive Runs Saved (-1), Ultimate Zone Rating (-2.1) and Outs Above Average (-2) panned Turner’s glovework at the hot corner in 574 innings, although while each mark was below-average, none painted him as a complete liability, either.
It’s been a quiet offseason for the Marlins, who’ve done little to address their roster outside of a trade for Rays reliever JT Chargois. The offense, which ranked 24th in the Majors in homers (144), 28th in runs scored (586), 26th in batting average (.230), 27th in on-base percentage (.294) and 28th in slugging percentage (.363) could stand upgrades at multiple positions.
It’s not quite clear just how much Miami has to spend this winter, but Mish and Jackson suggest Miami was willing to put forth an offer in the neighborhood of two years and $40MM for Jose Abreu before he signed with the Astros, suggesting that general manager Kim Ng has at least some leeway in her pursuits of veteran free agents.
The Marlins are projected by Roster Resource to trot out an Opening Day payroll in the neighborhood of $95MM at the moment. Turner would likely add more than $10MM to that figure, pushing the Marlins close to the franchise’s $115MM Opening Day record, set back in 2017 under former owner Jeffrey Loria.
Wouldn’t mind seeing Turner come over for a couple years to the Giants. Always liked the dude, I’m sure there maybe a younger option
I don’t want him on the Giants, but I like this for the Marlins. The Giants need to get younger and more athletic. But the Marlins desperately need a good hitter, and his status as a vet with his ability to hit could be a positive influence on that team.
Tad…I agree he’s old…what other option for 3rd if you don’t get Correa? Longo is a bit more injury prone.
Swanson is still available. Beyond that there’s still Brandon Drury as well. The Giants may also feel confident with their in-house options of David Villar and JD Davis. If they’re ok with Davis’ defense at 3b, it’ll be much cheaper and easier for them to upgrade at 1b than 3b.
Street tacos > steak
Yeah I think it’ll be mostly Davis. He hits RH pitching pretty well.
Depends on the steak.
He’s fine going to the Giants, if they’re ready to compete. If not, wasted money. Turner isn’t going to help Miami unless they’re gonna sign or trade for some good bats
@Balk: Here’s one younger option who can play 2B, 3B, & OF, and he’s a free agent.
2022 stats:
518 AB, 87 Runs, 136 Hits, 31 2B, 2 3B, 28 HR, 2 SB, .263 Avg, 122 OPS+
Brandon Drury. This guy should fit in as a utility guy almost anywhere. I think you could find him 450 AB’s. Obviously, he could DH, too.
Budegetball…I don’t know why I thought he was signed already
Shockingly, he’s not yet signed…and he’s only 30. I haven’t heard a word about him during the entire hot stove season. This guy could really help a bunch of clubs.
Another guy the Marlins could have had themselves multiple different times, for very little, and likely someone they’re probably in on for a decent amount of money now…
The problem with Drury is the Giants already have an abundance of utility types. They need an everyday option for the IF.
The A’s would be a good spot for Drury. They seem to like undervalued guys who can play multiple positions.
Blasphemy
Come on Turner….Tell the Dodgers you’ll work partially for food or bitcoin. You don’t belong on the Florida Marlins.
Agreed. I don’t know what the Doyers are doing this winter but I hope this means it’s time to play the kids. Trade them for ss/sp or play them. Don’t sign a bunch of change of scenery vets
They’re pulling the purse strings tight shut. Not going to be much choice but to play the kids. But one thing we know, it’s all Dave Roberts’ fault.
Right but I’m afraid if the Dodgers were truly serious about bringing him back he’d be signed already. Ownership didn’t insult us by letting Kershaw go somewhere else, but allowing Turner to walk would come in a close second.
The Dodger FO needs to re-sign Turner. Muncy isn’t going to cut it.
Muncy is ready for a bounce back year!
Hope it was a 1 year $4 offer cause we don’t need any has been
To the accuracy of your comment….that’s a Big Negative
This is like if you’re used to eating at a steakhouse your whole life and then switch to street tacos. You’ll regret that and hurt tomorrow.
Street tacos > steak
Trumbo’s Homemade Tacos > Street Tacos!
Terrible analogy. Does anyone think street tacos are a bad thing?
JT is a Dodger. Should take a front office / player deal. Another year as a part time starter, a year as a role player and then transition to the FO. The Doyers are playing with fire. Almost acting like they had dugout / clubhouse problems.
Desertball, I sure hope not. JT was one of the OG shot callers in the dugout…What him and Kersh said went…With Mookie having the tiebreaker vote.
Turner II would be perfect fit for Phillies. Sign Turner, move Bohm to first and trade Hoskins for a top middle relief pitcher. While it is a short-term fix at third, it would solidfy the lineup and the infield defense.
Justin Turner on the fish is perfect because his new nickname will be “the Red Snapper” 🙂
I don’t know the man, but if we’re talking about a couple million dollars, he’s going to stay in LA. As long as he feels respected and wanted here, and he does, he will be back. Why would he go to Florida and play in the NL East?
Nice rebuild Marlins /s
So they now have 8 position players over 30 years old….
Wasting the young SP’s just like they wasted their dream OF’ers.
I’m guessing 2 year, 35 million. It will take a bit of an overpay to get him but I bet he goes back to LAD
Whatever the offer is it’s not enough.
Padres. DH
The question really is…will he REALLY take his talents to South Beach?
Somehow I doubt it.
Marlins’ asset management is still a clown show, if not somehow even worse than it has been for a long time. The way things have gone so far, they could try to push across some guys that could be part time players, but that still leaves open the fact they need at least 3 bullpen arms, and especially high leverage guys/at least someone that can finish games…
If Sixto Samchez is healthy, I’ve said for a couple of years that he makes sense in the bullpen, although he never really missed bats with his stuff, though maybe I’m just saying that b/c I wasnt even a fan of him before they traded for him…
I’ve been saying for a year or 2 that they’ve put themselves in a similar position as 2017, where they needed to trade people and start over, and I havent seen any different, with their decision making being painful to watch, though for me is more of a numb feeling at this point, and I’m sure is similar apathy for other Marlins fans as well…
I’m of the belief that if they dont get lucky somehow, they will need to move pieces in a year or 2, as I had previously said 2-3 years, and I’m starting to feel the urgency to do so, despite their history of not getting back value at all. I still dont think it’s time yet, but they have to make some kind of attempts, b/c they’ve even let lower priced options go so far, after wasting money on players they didn’t need last year, and they made a couple of questionable non-tenders
So now we’re at a point where they have to address those things, like the bullpen, the infield, and depth, and hope to be more healthy next season as well, which is also a large question mark when you’re relying on arms
At this point, I will hold firm on my opinion that they shouldnt be trading from their “pitching depth” just yet, b/c it feels very pointless to do so. If they decide by mid-May to shift gears and sell though, then I could see using certain guys to try and add to the organization, rather than short sightedly trading useful rotation arms for a single bat, as they’ve been doing, with mostly poor results
Hopefully Turner remembers to bring his bat with him to Miami if he signs because Garcia and Soler didn’t
Solar I semi give them a pass on, even though I didn’t like it at the time for multiple reasons, but the Garcia deal was flat out never approaching any semblance of intelligence, and then made the Soler deal worse than it already was. I wanted them to sign Garcia like 4+ years ago, when it was cheap, which they dodnt do, and then they paid him more money per year, and for 4 years, than it would have cost them total back then, when they didnt need OFers
I always wanted De La Cruz, and the young guys to get those opportunities in the OF, which is what it looks like they’re going to be doing anyway, instead of incessantly talking about trading for Cfers, which by the way, they could have had if they had kept Starling Marte, as they should have, instead of refusing to pay him much less than they ended up paying Garcia
They could have then used that money either to make another move somewhere on the infield, or at the time, and still more desperately, in the bullpen. They also had pieces they could have moved for those bullpen arms, but decided to hold on to them for too long, and then ended up non tendering/moving them off waivers, as usual
I had also said they didnt need to do anything at catcher yet, and yet they moved pieces for Stallings, who had 1 year of anything that may have made him an upgrade. I had wanted to see what Fortes could do with more time, and thought Alfaro came on a bit in the 2nd half the previous year, and could at least give them something with the bat, and though he had a down year defensively, he wasnt as bad as people were making it seem, and it’s not as big of a deal, with Fortes also there, and them also desperately needing help at the plate…then Stallings went on to be worse than Alfaro on both sides of the ball, despite how much they )@$$ him 0[[ about his defense, and Fortes ended up getting a lot more playing time anyway
Then they left Encarnacion in the minor leagues way too long, after showing he had changed as a hitter, only to finally call him up when he cooled off, and then shift him back and forth constantly, with limited opportunities afterwards. They also held onto Aguilar way too long for whatever reason, only to let him go for nothing
Theres A LOT more, just in the last 2.5 years, but its stuff like this that is so Marlins, even blind people see it coming
He’s at a point in his career where he’s made his money, so why would you want to end your career with one of the worse franchises in baseball…
He’s not going to the marlins, a rebuilding team, this is just an agent strategy to try and get a better deal for his client. Agent is doing his job.
If JT is offered a contract from the Dodgers, and I assume he has based on Friedman’s postseason comments, he is not leaving period. JT is 38 years old, has a chance to win, where he grew up, with his childhood team. I knew JT while in college at CSUF, he loves playing close to home, he’s to much of a down to Earth guy.
That’s assuming he gets a decent offer from a contender. How much less would he take to stay in LA? At some point it may not be enough. And I don’t see teams like the Yankees, Padres, Astros, etc., clambering to sign Turner.
Plus, he’s made significant money, has a ring, and may enjoy mentoring some young hitters like Chisholm. I wouldn’t say definitely that he will not sign with the Marlins. And maybe he really like Miami.
I wonder how much the Marlins supposedly are offering? Can’t really see him moving to a team with no real chance at the playoffs.
Their pitching says otherwise. If he signs, Jazz stays healthy, and if they can somehow swing a deal for Reynolds, I think they have a shot at a wild card spot
And what bullpen helps them hold any leads, and win in those 1 and 2 run games they’ve lost a million of the last couple of years
why Reynolds, ? cost too high.
i would weather have walker .
I think Jorge Soler and Justin Turner are both best suited as DHs.
Muncy is a better fielder than JT at this point.
Marlins really should trade a pitcher (not Sandy) for a real CF. A deal with AZ seems so logical.
How does it seem logical though? They trade an arm for a CFer, to do what? What does that do for them over the next 2-3 years? What level of CFer are we talking, and then what do they do about other areas of importance that still haven’t been answered in years, which cost them countless games the last couple of years, and then put a lot of stress innings on their young arms in tight games, only to see those games lost anyway?
Also, look at the division they’re in. Atlanta with essentially their whole roster locked up, and relatively young/in their primes. Also have to think the Mets and Phillies have a good chance fo be around the next couple of years as well, and then the Nationals are starting to put pieces in place towards their rebuild, though obviously I’m not saying they’re close. I just have more faith in them than the Marlins in rebuilding intelligently
Congrats to Turner. He now has a bid to bring back to the Dodgers to get his price when he re-signs with them.
A 38 year old DH? The Marlins already have like six regulars who cant field…or hit. Ain’t that enough? This GM sucks.
Did we ever learn the final death toll from the aftermath of Turner entering the field sans a mask? Does he owe restitution to the victims?
You lose the internet today. Congratulations.
In line with the recent reporting on Friedman‘s desire to avoid the luxury tax, I would expect the Dodgers to hold off on signing JT until the Bauer situation is resolved. If the Dodgers are not relieved of the obligation to pay Bauer in 2023, I would expect they would let JT go.