Mariners infielder Justin Turner’s 40th birthday is just around the corner this November, but that’s not stopping the veteran from planning to keep going next year. The pending free agent told reporters, including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer, after Seattle’s win over the A’s last night that he wants to continue his playing career in 2025:
“100 percent. I still feel good, still feel like I have a lot to contribute.” Turner said, as relayed by Kramer. “And I absolutely love spending time around these guys and the conversations and questions and helping guys.”
Even as he enters his 40s, it’s not necessarily a shock that Turner would plan to continue playing. After all, the veteran remains quite productive on the field. In 138 games split between Toronto and Seattle this year, the veteran has slashed .258/.353/.380 with a wRC+ of 115. While Turner’s 11 home runs and .122 isolated slugging percentage are both the lowest he’s posted in a full season since becoming a regular with the Dodgers back in 2015, his overall production remains exactly in line with what he produced for the Red Sox last year and not far off from the 123 wRC+ he posted in his final year as a Dodger.
Turner has largely been restricted to first base an DH since departing Los Angeles, with just six total appearances at the hot corner this year after logging 17 appearances between second and third base with the Red Sox last year. That dwindling versatility will surely restrict his market this winter, but there should still be plenty of suitors for Turner even in a strictly 1B/DH role. After all, just nine teams got a 115 wRC+ or higher out of first base this year, while 11 clubs matched or exceeded that figure at DH. Only the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies, and Diamondbacks got better numbers than Turner provided out of both positions this year, and Arizona figures to lose both Christian Walker and Joc Pederson to free agency this winter.
Of course, it’s unlikely that Turner would really garner interest from every club he would be an on-paper upgrade for, but it’s still easy to imagine him as a fit for a number of teams. The Astros could benefit from a right-handed complement to Jon Singleton at first base and someone capable of plugging in at DH on days where Yordan Alvarez plays the outfield, for one example. Meanwhile, the Royals, Nationals, Tigers, and Pirates are all young up-and-coming teams who not only got below average production from either first base or DH this year but could also benefit from adding a well-respected veteran like Turner as a mentor figure for young hitters.
Turner has also signed one-year deals in each of the past two offseasons, which could make him a particularly attractive candidate for a team like the Tigers that has a possible regular in Spencer Torkelson but may not want to rely on the 25-year-old finally taking a long-anticipated step forward after making the playoffs for the first time since 2014 this year. That flexibility could also benefit a team like the Yankees that has a potential heir to first base in Ben Rice at Triple-A but is unlikely to fully commit to a youngster with just 49 big league games under his belt.
A return to Seattle also can’t be ruled out. As Kramer noted last night, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto indicated to reporters yesterday that the club’s payroll is likely to increase this winter. While Dipoto cautioned that much of that increase figures to be accounted for with the increasing arbitration costs of a large class of key players like Randy Arozarena, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and Cal Raleigh, it’s not hard to imagine the club being able to fit a one-year deal for Turner into their budget if they decide they’d prefer to use him in the first base/DH mix alongside Luke Raley rather than rely on youngster Tyler Locklear.
Don’t ever see JT giving Houston a first, second or third thought.
Hits from RH side, wanted to return to Boston, but it was obvious they had no place for him with plans to push yoshida to DH before the ’23 season ended. Turner, this point of his career is pretty much a 3/4 time DH, rest of the time 1b and break glass 2b/3b. Shame, cause he’s the ultimate clubhouse presence and teamate.
Some team will get a great coach when he hangs up his playing spikes.
John, if Yoshida gets dealt, Turner would be a good short term option in 25.
Respectfully, I hardly think Justin Turner makes much sense in Detroit. Not unless he can pitch out of the bullpen too.
“Hall of Fame career”…A good solid bat, teammate and citizen, but hardly a “Hall of Famer”. This watering down of the MLB HOF has got to stop.
I think you need to adjust your sarcasm detector.
Hard to tell what is sarcasm from J-mute.
Good citizen/teammate my a$$. He tested positive for Covid during Game 6 when we still didn’t know much about it and didn’t care enough about his teammates to mask up. It’s not that big of a deal to wear a damn mask, especially at that time when it was such a threat to public health. You got it right with the solid bat part, though.
So did Brandon Belt, Evan Longoria, etc. The list is long. if he really wants to play, he shouldn’t over value himself. He’s still bat first and the bat is slipping.
Good for him, but as I always say, the teams will tell you when you are done in 99 percent of the cases.
If 2024 is what he calls playing, yea, thanks but no thanks. Ahahaha!
@NYCR
Turner?
He had a fine 2024. What are you taking about?
The Mariners need him back for one or two more years. He can retire as a Mariner, and know that he continued to help out the youngsters there in becoming better ball players.
My faith in JeDi signing him though…. Maybe 3/10.
lmao he’s a fine player but holy hell “better than all of them” thanks for the laugh
Maybe 4/100 or 5/125.
Anyone else notice that Brandon Belt’s name was missing from the 1b free agent preview?
gratatata!!
I’d love Turner’s bat in the Rangers lineup only If CY didn’t have such a mancrush on Nate Lowe
What’s wrong with Nate Lowe? Seems like a good first baseman.
I would like to see Turner go to the Rangers,
I’d like to see the Mariners retain Turner. I really like this guy!
I think there’s a good chance that happens.
He got 13m this season. If he was willing to return to Seattle, I’d imagine it would take somewhere around the same.. But would Seattle pay that much for a player they wouldn’t likely be able to use full-time?
Maybe I’m being naive, but I think he ends up a bit short of 13m next season, but remains to be seen if they’d be willing to pony up whatever it ends up being, especially with Haniger and Garver already on the books.
Well, by ‘around the same’ I meant 10-13m.
I don’t think Haniger returns and I’d be surprised if Garver does as well. If anyone can move those contracts, it’s Jerry.
Maybe as a DH. His Defense is atrocious.
I’d have to look at the defensive metrics for him at 1B, but for his age he looked pretty darn good over there defensively from the time we acquired him…
That clown needs to retire
Lmao
A fun personality. always good to have him around for another season.
Jays need a batting coach. He can accomplish his goals of being around the guys, conversing etc by helping out the youngsters. Problem is he’d have to take a pay cut by not being on the field. I think the kids would listen to him rather than some dude that last hit in the 1950s, and whose game highlights were in black and white super 8 film.
1 yr 5 million max
Na, a one-year deal should be 30-35m.we’re talking about an elite super-star.
Riiiiight…I think Goldschmidt for 2/35 makes sense
I think they’re far more likely to start Raley at 1B vs. RHPs and look for a cheaper alternative to face LHPs.
DH is going to be interesting.
Tigers should sign him and let him mentor Torkelson like he did Casas in Boston. Turner deserves as much credit as anyone for Casas’ second half surge last year
Why wouldn’t Turner want to continue? Sheesh, someone willing to drop a couple million dollars on a guy who gets 1-2 hits/week. Great work if you can find it.
If the Mariners sign soto and another bat the remainder of the 2020s will belong to the Mariners. A world series felt inevitable, however I didn’t even realize just how inevitable it could be.
I want whatever you’re smoking.