The Athletic – The Chicago Cubs are finalizing a one-year, $6 million deal with Justin Turner, a league source briefed on the negotiations told The Athletic on Tuesday, adding a highly accomplished right-handed hitter with extensive playoff experience.
The Cubs monitored Turner, 40, on the free-agent market and pivoted after their failed pursuit of Alex Bregman, the All-Star third baseman who recently signed a three-year, $120 million deal with the Boston Red Sox that contains a substantial amount of deferred money.
We’re exactly one month out from Opening Day in Tokyo and I couldn’t ask for better news and that’s because the Cubs needed a veteran 3rd baseman very badly. If it wasn’t Alex Bregman then $6M of Justin Turner for one year will do just fine.
Which brings me to a conspiracy theory.
I think Jed never wanted to sign Bregman. I think he wanted to be competitive enough in the media and he wanted to use the opportunity to push Tom and Crane. But deep down I don’t think Jed wanted to spend $30M/year on Alex Bregman when his favorite draft pick (Matt Shaw) is ready to start his MLB career.
I’m not accusing Jed of fraud as much as I’m saying it could have been reflected in his negotiations with Bregman. It’s not unrealistic to consider, especially with how far off the Cubs were on AAV compared to the Boston Red Sox.
AAV means the average annual value of the total contract
Deep down Jed probably wanted 1 year and way less money for Justin Turner than the long term commitment of Bregman. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself right now because it’s really that much better for the long-term outlook of the Cubs.
Although to be fair – I wanted Bregman very bad and said that extensively.
It’s just that now that the deals are done, I’m retroactively changing my mind because I think Justin Turner and Matt Shaw is a perfect combination for this club. Here’s why:
Turner can play 1st and DH. He can spell Michael Busch if necessary and give Seiya a day off when needed. He can mentor Shaw on defense and lifestyle stuff. He can give Nico tips on how to add more power. He’s super easy for Counsell to manage and one of the more seasoned and established position players across the entire league. And certainly one of the oldest and most experienced.
Overall he has every intangible and soft-factor thing you could want from a veteran free agent that will be competing for time from a young prospect. There’s so many good things about him joining the club, I can’t properly state them all at once. The best I can do is say that I love this move inside and out.
As for Shaw, I think it’s the perfect amount of competition in spring training. It’s not a career setback and you won’t be filling in for Nico on Opening Day as a result. It’s rather just a nice spirited relationship with a player that was a senior in high school the day you were born. That’s not older brother stuff. That’s your dad. Justin Turner is basically Matt Shaw’s father.
So of course we like that a lot for development purposes.
And most important right now is that Justin Turner can still play:
- In 2,300 plate appearances since the pandemic ended, he’s posted a 117 OPS+.
- Comparatively, Ian Happ is a 114 OPS+ in the same time period
- Nico = 103
- Dansby = 104
And for about $110,000,000 less than Alex Bregman to block Matt Shaw’s rookie contract years?
Checkmate Jed.
PS – I absolutely nailed all of this last week on the blog and it feels so good to know that I still got it.
[…] BREAKING: The Chicago Cubs Have Signed Justin Turner To A 1-Year Contract […]