The Cubs are in agreement on a deal with right-hander Spencer Turnbull, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He was released by the Blue Jays late last month. It’s not yet clear whether the Boras Corporation client is headed to the Cubs on a big league contract or a minor league deal. Either way, he’ll provide some depth to a rotation that has seen several injuries this season.
The 32-year-old Turnbull enjoyed a strong showing with the 2024 Phillies, pitching to a 2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 innings but missing ample time on the injured list. He lingered in free agency throughout the entire offseason and only signed with Toronto in early May, well after the season was underway, for a prorated $1.27MM salary. The Jays ultimately received only three appearances for that modest investment. Turnbull struggled in the minors while ramping up and couldn’t get on track in his limited MLB work either, yielding five runs on 12 hits and four walks with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 big league frames.
Turnbull’s velocity never got up to its typical levels, though that’s perhaps not a huge surprise for a late signee who went through an accelerated buildup. The right-hander sat 89.7 mph with his four-seamer in the minors and was up to 90.9 mph in the majors — both noticeably south of the 92 mph he averaged in Philadelphia last year and the 92.9 mph at which he sat with the Tigers in 2023.
Although this year’s performance doesn’t stand out, Turnbull has been a generally productive pitcher when healthy enough to take the mound. He posted a 4.61 ERA and 3.99 FIP in his first full season at the majors with Detroit back in 2019, tossing 148 1/3 frames. From 2020-24, Turnbull improved to a 3.84 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate –albeit in a sample of just 192 innings over that five-year period.
Injuries have regularly interrupted Turnbull’s path to establishing himself as a credible big league starter. He missed the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery and has also had notable Il stints in his career for lat, back, shoulder, forearm and neck injuries. Turnbull has worked primarily as a starter in the majors — 68 starts, 13 relief outings — but still has only 363 innings under his belt due to that deluge of health troubles.
The Cubs aren’t going to blindly count on Turnbull to hold down a rotation spot from this point forth, but he’ll give them another option to evaluate at a time when Justin Steele is done for the season and when Javier Assad (oblique) and Jameson Taillon (calf) are on the injured list. Assad has yet to pitch this season. Chicago also recently optioned young righty Ben Brown to Triple-A amid some notable struggles.
At the moment, the Cubs’ rotation includes Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton and Colin Rea. Swingman Chris Flexen made a spot start last Friday but has otherwise been used in long relief, where he’s been excellent. The Cubs are widely expected to add at least one starter — if not two — between now and the July 31 trade deadline. The signing of Turnbull doesn’t change that likelihood but does add some further depth in the event of additional injuries to the current staff.
Here is the big addition Cubs fans have been waiting for.
#championship
I’m picking up on your sarcasm. (Tommy Boy gif)
Thats good because I was laying it on pretty thick
I hope even without the hint, you got that reference. Either way I’m glad you at least knew what the next line was.
Since the Cubs drafted 4 Power hitting OF’s early in the draft that either are LH or SH I’m guessing we’ve seen the last of Owen Caissie around here. Then they drafted a bunch of P’s who have had TJ surgery already or were injured and 2 C’s which addressed a Depth need at least they didn’t draft a bunch of SS’s so I guess I can’t complain.
First time ever they didn’t draft a SS. First time in 60 drafts.
@Uncle: I’m guessing ONKC stays, but Alcantara goes, for a mid-level starter
The Cubs draft this year has absolutely no affect on what they do with the big league club this year.
MLB franchises don’t draft based on immediate need.
That’s a joke right? No baseball team gets IMMEDIATE help from a draft. But they do draft people to replace what they are gonna lose. Like now.
Saving their money for the late July rebuild sell-off by dirty birds
Every White Sux and redturd homer on here has used that lame chestnut. Apparently wit or originality is just too much to ask.
Glad the rotation is taken care of now
The free agent prediction contest is over!
No, David Robertson is still unsigned.
Not anymore
I mean, sure he won’t cost much.
It is remarkable to me that every time the Cubs make a sensible minor move like this, the yahoos come out and ridicule it by saying, “Oh, that means the World Series is in the bag,” and similar sarcastic remarks. They aren’t really fans. Those of us who are really fans appreciate that the FO making small moves does not preclude their making bigger moves later, and are glad to see ALL attempts to improve the team–as long as too much is not given away in a trade.
Yup, it’s not earth-shattering but sometimes the small moves pay off greatly.
Drew Pomeranz is just the most recent example of this.
….and Chris Flexen and Caleb Theilbar and Brad Keller and Colin Rea….
My term is rock-throeers.
They are as useful and welcomed as rock-throwers at a parade.
This is “Sensible”? Huh. I must have been absent in word a day when they covered that word.
@unclemike Sensible means practical or reasonable, which this would be. Bit subjective. You’re entitled to feel how you want. Having said that, I’m not sure if this is a bit you do, but the Cubs are 19 games OVER 500. You constantly bash the team. Maybe find a new team because I doubt this one can provide the joy You’re looking for.
So I’m just supposed to roll over and agree with everything he does when he’ll never call up a prospect and signs retread failures with zero options constantly while the Brewers call up prospects and gain, Boston calls up prospects and thrives, And the D-Backs brought theirs up a while ago and made it all the way to the NLCS while this guy refuses to even think about adding one of their own? Sorry Dolla, I’m not a sheep like a lot of Cub fans. I was taught at an early age to think for myself. It’s why we’ve had 10 years if futility under Jed Dread.
No, you’re supposed to feel how you want. I agree with you some of the time, but I cant remember the last time you were positive about anything the Cubs did. You HATE Hoyer, and tbh, I was on the fence heading into the year. I’m still not sold on him. But I think your hatred is over the top. He’s made some shrewd moves. Without Steele and Assad, with Brown going down to AAA, with Shota missing two months, with Taillon on the IL, this Cubs team is a 97-win team on July 18. Jed’s done some things right. Start here: who would you bring up from the farm if you were the GM?
I agree with you in principle, Uncle. But I don’t see how signing guys like Turnbull to minor-league contracts blocks any promotions of prospects. And I think we have to consider the possibility that the prospects whose promotions you advocate, maybe they just aren’t all that good. Watching ONKC, for instance, he has holes in his swings you could drive a truck through. Ballesteros looks too fat to play in the majors, and that is at age 21. The pitchers you have advocated for, e.g., Birdsell, don’t seem to have out pitches, or command. I know your point is, bring them up and see how they do. But if we bring them up, we will see how they do. And the Cubs have a battle ahead of them to win a wild-card spot, and it’s no sure thing.
First thing I’d do is bring up Long and lose Turner. Birdsell just made his debut tonight and Struck out 4 and walked five so his control is way off, But his stuff was real good. Sanders and Noland have been steady and cold at least deserve a shot. They have no LH bat for the bench so they’ll have to find one but since ole Jed has been looking for one for 4 years now I’m not hopeful. There are a lot of things that should be done but need to be done in the off season. Every year he signs a bunch of serious bums to pitch in Iowa instead of the prospects he SHOULD be giving the innings to. Why is Maeda there? He rots. Rather give those innings to a AA guy even if he gets hammered at least you’d know. It’s a progression of failures and I’m over him. And since this is a place to voice my opinions I will. I’m glad they’re still in first place. But my joy will be tempered until I see how he handles the deadline. If his recent years are any example I’ll probably be disappointed. I hope you all liked Caissie because he’s definitely gone. You don’t spend 4 of your top 6 picks on the same guy if you’re KEEPING him. He’s obviously the prize everyone is aiming for. You might not like what I say, But it’s not all bad. And as far as him signing FA’s to their contracts he’s the worst.
Maeda is already there wasting innings so yeah why not add another bum. Wow. And Ballesteros is no C but the only place he can play is 1B(Badly) and DH so he can go, It’s fine with me. He had 2 passed balls tonight, Par for the course. He can hit though I’ll say that for him.
@Dolla: Uncle is right that Hoyer is a preposterous character, a sort of imposter who is impersonating a baseball executive. As for the Cubs’ record, let’s see where it is in a few weeks. They haven’t won anything yet, and the warning signs are ominous. And alas, a super-team is forming in their division–not, per the egregious Brett Taylor, an “annoying” team, but a lineup of remarkably effective contact hitters and probably the best pitching in the league.
Never calls up a prospect? Isn’t the everyday lineup littered with them?
Happ, PCA, Busch, Hoerner, Shaw, Amaya?
Or are you talking about Nelson Velasquez, Alexander Canario, Matt Mervis and Brennan Davis?
—and three of those mentioned were called up—and didn’t quite make it—here or elsewhere.
drafting players to play in rookie ball, and A and possibly AA in 3 years hardly says anything about what prospects they have in AAA currently.
that’s just stupid thinking. you draft the best hitters available, if you have no space for them, you trade them.
your take is one of the dumbest takes on drafting players I’ve ever heard.
Yankees drafted an outfielder, I guess by your logic, they are going to DFA judge right?
total dunce post buddy. you must be a bored white Sox fan who gets off on trying to bash an actual good team because you really have nothing to offer in terms of actual baseball IQ.
Talk about a stupid post. Yours is an award winner for idiocy. The baseball draft is the most complicated of all because the it’s the only one where the best player available isn’t the one drafted. It’s driven by money, signing ability and drafting one guy so you can save money and sign other guys later. Plus the reasons aren’t always obvious and the levels of competition they have to go through to get there. The Cubs had an absolute lack of LH hitting in the whole system so they drafted 4 LH or SH prospects in their first 6 picks. If you can’t see that then you are Stevie Wonder. It doesn’t take a genius to see the Cubs best prospect now is the only real LH power hitter in the system and you have an idiot trying to save his job so you know he’ going to trade anything to save his job. Thanks for your genius take on the situation. Does the warden know you are on the prison computer ?
Hey Alan, Just a heads up. Check out the Tanner Scott thread. I think someone jacked your account and changed the number to Alan 54 and is saying weird things. You might want to check.
They do it when any team does a move like this. You must only read Cubs articles.
In the immortal words of Indigo Montoya, ” You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means”.
Turnbull and Rea! Here come the Brewers!
Leave him on the market so the team you acquire a TOR guy from has a replacement
At least we kept Owen Caissie. Would be funny if this blah addition actually did a 180 degree turn and was the second coming of 1984 Rick Sutcliffe and went undefeated in the majors the second half and started game 2 of a playoff series.
It’ll never happen, but that would be quite amazing.
Might be too early to count on that. Turnbull is a depth piece, not a finishing piece. This move doesn’t prevent them from going after a difference-maker.
Now that is a real dreaming cub fan.
Solid long-relief/spot start option
Probably should start three or four games in Iowa to show if he’s better than the guys there.
Wonderful signing will make cheerleader David H Very happy.u
This signing merely proves the Cubs are willing to waste money.
Yep…gonna cost Ricketts whatever the price is of one extra ring sizing, making, and distribution.
Yawn
All ego, little brains combined with a broken body & no heart
Good luck with the headcase that is Spencer Turnbull
Time to fire Jed!
It’s a minor league contract, per Cubs transactions page.
Wouldn’t be surprised if it is a minor league deal with some type of option in August (maybe the 1st).
This is another cheap arm/body to backfill or supplement the numbers. One would expect that a large number of arms are on table as package pieces in the next ten days.
Wicks, Neely, Pearson, Wiggins, Assad, Flexen, (please not Horton), Brown, Birdsell, etc., etc.
I’m sure just about every name is going to be asked about in deals.
If Cubs give up pitchers 7, 15, and 20 for someone to improve the pen or rotation there are still the lower leverage guys that need to stay fortified.
Hey, what a pickup and he’s only 32! Mark my words, 2nd half MVP!
Not a bad move. At least it’s a move.
Has Boras ever publicly fired a client?
So what, take a flyer on a guy. Maybe give the coaching staff some credit for what they have been able to do so far.