Red Sox infielder Justin Turner has apparently drawn trade interest, per Rob Bradford of WEEI, but rival clubs are being told the Sox have no interest in trading him.
It’s unsurprising that clubs would have interest in Turner, who has been one of the most consistently above-average hitters in the majors for a decade now. He broke out in 2014 with a .340/.404/.493 showing for the Dodgers, producing a 158 wRC+ that indicated he was 58% better than league average at the plate. In each season since, his wRC+ has finished somewhere between 154 and 123.
Turner signed with the Red Sox this year after a nine-year stretch in Los Angeles. It was officially a two-year, $21.7MM guarantee, with an $8.3MM salary this year followed by a $13.4MM player option that comes with a $6.7MM buyout. Since signing that deal, he’s having another fairly typical season for him, despite now being 38 years old. He’s hitting .289/.359/.481 on the year for a wRC+ of 127, still 27% better than the league-average hitter. He’s done that while providing a bit of defensive versatility, occasionally slotting in at each non-shortstop position on the infield.
Given that he’s having yet another strong season, he seems a lock to turn down that player option and return to free agency as long as he’s stays healthy. Given the high price of the buyout, exactly half of the option price, he’d only need to top $6.7MM on the open market in order to come out ahead. That makes him effectively a rental piece with the deadline now just a few days away.
Last year, the Red Sox were in a similar spot to this year, just a bit outside of contention. On August 1 of 2022, they were 52-52, three games out of a playoff spot. They ended up doing a mix of buying and selling, flipping Jake Diekman and Christian Vázquez but holding onto Nathan Eovaldi, J.D. Martinez and Rich Hill, while also bringing in Tommy Pham and Eric Hosmer. That didn’t work out as they ended up fading and missing the playoffs.
Their current 55-47 record puts them in a better spot than last year, though their place in the standings is only modestly better, as they are a game and a half out of a playoff spot. It’s understandable why other teams might call on Turner, hoping the Red Sox would be open to a similar buy-sell hybrid that could make him available, an approach that chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has admitted is likely.
How the club ultimately plays the deadline remains to be seen. Just because Turner isn’t available, doesn’t mean other players won’t be. Boston already flipped Enrique Hernández to the Dodgers and has gotten interest on Adam Duvall. It seems likely the club will look to add some pitching depth and they still have a few days to do so. Trading Turner could have been one avenue to getting another arm or two, but it doesn’t seem that is in the club’s plans.
The Sox are still in the playoff hunt. Trading Kike was no big deal but they need Turner in the lineup as there have been a few stretches where he’s carried the offense. Plus he deserves just as much credit for Casas’ turnaround as anyone
Red Sox are a real contender.
They have a good mix.
riiiiiiiiiiiiight
Cartrow – Real contenders have solid defense, intelligent baserunning, and a manager who knows what the heck he’s doing. The Red Sox have none of those.
Today’s game perfectly encapsulated all that is wrong with the Red Sox.
Their defense was bad, Devers made a costly error and Casas missed an easy popup that hung up in the air for a very long time.
Their baserunning was bad, Arroyo getting doubled up was just one example.
And for those people wondering why the scrap heap acquisitions by Bloom often attract a collective groan, look no further than today.
Mauricio Llovera had been designated for assignment by the Giants before the Red Sox traded for him. Bloom didn’t care about Mauricio’s 5.93 career ERA or 1.681 career WHIP over 4 ML seasons.
And what happens today? Cora puts him into the game to start the 11th, when he promptly gives up a couple hits and hits a batter. He loses the game, but doesn’t get charged with any runs because the Ghost Runner scored. It’s almost like the Giants traded him to the Red Sox right before this series for a reason.
But wait … there’s more! Because Cora burned up the entire bench with his overmanaging, he was forced to let Ref bat against RHP which as everyone knows he’s awful against. In a critical situation with Duran on 2B leading off the top of the 10th, not only did Ref have to bat against a RHP but Chang also had to bat with his .161 BA and .563 OPS because there was LITERALLY NOBODY LEFT ON THE BENCH.
And Cora refused to use Pivetta, who hasn’t pitched since the 25th, and Cora refused to use Martin for more than an inning despite the fact he threw only 9 pitches. Even Winck could have gone longer, having thrown only 19 pitches.
This is why, with Cora’s bullpen mismanagement, the scrap heap rejects that Bloom acquires should NOT be put at Cora’s disposal because sure enough he will wind up using them in extremely high leverage situations.
Today was a very winnable game, Cora is the one who was mostly at fault for losing it.
Good pickup for the Dodgers for the remainder of this season. He’ll surely opt out after the season is over.
Did you read the headline?
Derp.
This guy looks like he smells really bad lol
At least he washes himself. Brandon Marsh of the Phillies on the other hand…..
Brandon Marsh washes himself, he just doesn’t dry. He is literally dripping wet before every game.
Why does he do that?
I have no idea.
At least Boston doesn’t have some archaic “no beard” policy from the 1920s! One of the dumbest things in modern sports. The rest of the league is laughing at you.
@CheapBloom I agree. It’s ridiculous.
1970s but yeah. Only way it would go away is if someone objected and nobody objects to their paychecks from NYY. That said if you look at a lot of the guys they’re pretty scruffy.
BTW, Red Sox now have the #5 ranked minor league system. That usually doesn’t come cheaply. I’m happy with Bloom’s direction.
In my mind what they need more of in the farm is pitchers. They’ve got half the worlds supply of shortstops, or so it seems.
Bello, Winckowski, Houck, all home grown pretty much
D & B – Houck I don’t know man, think his pitch mix belongs in the pen. Can concur with the other two though. Bello especially
They got Winckowski. in the Benintendi trade two years ago. He’d been in the minors 5 years before the Red sox got him.
Crawford is home grown.
They mentioned pitchers, not exclusively starters
all home grown pretty much
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Perhaps “home developed” would’ve been a better phrase. Winc wasn’t a ranked prospect, though he was talked about. But the RS only got him as an A+ player with a 2.18 K/W.
Just imho, the RS have done an excellent job in the past few years in developing pitchers. I looked at this a while back, and we spent at least as much draft capital on pitchers as Cleveland, with very little to show for it. And that goes all the way back to Theo.
I think we are finally teaching some of the kids, and some neglected pros, how to pitch instead of how to throw. The shape of Winc’s off-speed deliveries is twice as good as last year.
Joe – The coaching of a pitching staff has a huge impact on success. Turn to places like Atlanta and St. Louis and you see a history of well developed pitching. Maybe the GM can claim success improving the coaching of pitchers in the farm system. Clearly, the recent promotions have been better prepared than they were a decade ago.
Now the focus needs to turn to defense because the old saying pitching and defense wins championships still holds.
I’m having a hard time understanding the correlation between Justin Turner likely having really bad body odor and the Yankees having a no facial hair policy
*shrugs*
They need to trade Turner. I can’t stand seeing that tar stain on those bright yellow jerseys
You mean the ugliest jerseys on the planet
I give this article a 77 indicating that it is 23% below article average
He’s having a Fantastic Season. He really turned it up about 2 months ago when they needed him nice !
That’s his MO. Once he gets out of the spring Turner starts hitting for power and his numbers shoot up.
I completely agree with this decision. If we make the playoffs, Turner is a great clubhouse guy and a good hitter.
I will say, however, I’m open to trading Duvall. The only issue there is having enough right handed hitters. I think with Duran’s success, Duvall is a bit more expendable and could get us something back. I hate to say it but he is injury prone as well, and is very successful in short stvat. (even though his average is low), so I would be happy to trade him for more pitching or a right handed infield bat.
Duvall should absolutely be traded. Good guy, but he’s expendable, a FA in 24, and has value. The Sox are in a good place to trade a few guys, but keep their best prospects.
Rafaela is up to .312 with a .978 OPS at AAA.
Seems like between him and Refsnyder they could muscle through. But with that said, neither one of them is likely to match Duvals productions.
I wouldn’t count on Rafaela this year. The only way we trade Duvall is if we get something back that can help us.
I am definitely not counting on him this year. But if Duvall gets traded, the Red Sox have no outfielders who are ML Ready.
Renfroe, Masutaka, Verdugo, Duran
I’m sure they could take anyone else from AAA or get another outfielder easily.
Problem right now is that they have 4 starters, 3 positions. One can obviously DH but we can fill that through other positions as well.
I will say, however, I’m open to trading Duvall.
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If given a choice, would you trade Duvall or Verdugo? You’d get more for Verdugo and it balances L/R.
JoeBrady, they’d get killed if they traded Verdugo. Even if it made baseball sense the fan base would absolutely kill them.
What do they love about duggie so much
Duvall is a rental, verdugo has one more year of control. If it were the other way around you’d trade Verdugo.
not necessarily. If they got a haul for VErdugo they can and should make that trade
I am pretty much inclined to not mess with the chemistry and do a straight add, no deletions.
But it feels like the outfield would be just as good with Duvall in RF as it is with Verdugo. Like I said, status quo is fine, but if someone had a good SP on an expiring contract, and needed a good RF with another year of control, I’d have to think about it.
I don’t see Verdugo with one year left before free agency as someone getting a haul
hence why I said unless.
Trade him. Get a good pitcher,”Last chance” Dalbec replaces him briefly then Story comes on board.
There are a number of key contributors returning from injury and as the article notes, Turner is effectively a rental. There’s no logical reason to sell him for a minimal return when they could very well make the playoffs by standing pat.
Keep him, Sox are still contenders for a wildcard, offense has been ok.
You mean the best I’m Baseball fir the last 20 games
Fir
hate to say it but the red sox are making the postseason and paxton/bello make them a tough short-series draw
Had they gone 5-14 I’d say trade him, but they went 14-5 so go for it. I don’t expect em to make a giant splash at the deadline but just try and compete.
Does anyone see a sideways trade of Duval going? Trading him and Hernandez leaves us short in centerfield. Necessitating a Rafaela call up? If we’re all in I say keep him.
That makes no sense
Sell when when he’s doing well!!!
Three top pitchers out and they’re this close? Make a few tweaks, get everyone healthy, then step on the gas.
I mean yeah there’s the hybrid method but trading Turner, a key player, is the unlikeliest of unlikely steps
No the Dodgers want all their Ex-Players back!! this stifles their goal
You can have them!!! Give us BRAISER BACK!!!( and Mookie at a reduced rate)
A tough schedule is ahead but winning 4 of 5 from NYM and ATL is a great sign. Keeping Turner makes sense because his performance is far greater than his cost and losing his chemistry with the team could change things so keep him.
It still comes back to who can dominate in Aug and Sept vs the AL East. The teams that have success will make the playoffs and the others will watch from home.
Justin Turner is a dog for the Sox…he’s good for another 2 years before inevitable decline….he’s clutch!
Wish he was on the Yankees….
More good news out of Boston. Trevor Story is set to return during next Red Sox homestand.
Assuming the team chemistry doesn’t change, the additions of Sale, Houck, Whitlock & Story, no matter what their roles, should be very good.
Ofc they keep him Bloom is gonna go all in and get us sitting nice and pretty a solid starter with multiple years left on the contract and will put this team in contention. All you Bloom shutting up now that they’re hot let’s not forget this teams been hurt all year and he’s piecing together a team on the fly. (Unrelated)where’s all the yoshida haters now
Remember when half this board welfare off Casas?
No.
I don’t think it was a huge number, mostly just the usual haters. There were some that thought he needed more AAA time, but I think that was more a matter of not understanding the impact of BABIP on one’s OPS.
Just for the record, his OPS was .665 on May 10, but his BABIP was a ridiculous .180. Now that his BABIP is a more reasonable .305, his OPS is .852. I mean, even the MLB-R writers often overlook that.
Joe – There is another possibility. Luck has nothing to do with him improving. It was simply a matter of time and at bats.
Remember when half this board wrote off Casas?
I remember when the trolls did.
Casas is only 23 years old and has one of the most advanced approaches on the team.
So is that a “yes” or a “no”?
No faster way to change the luck of the team then to brag that the team is something it isn’t. This is not an elite team, this is a good team with chemistry right now. This team is not a 108 win Red Sox team from 2018 but could end up surprising people like in 2013.
It’s way too early to read all the I told you so comments. There is a lot of season left. Enjoy the uptick and be prepared for the corresponding down tick.
That would’ve been a good approach for the trolls early in the season. I predicted 86.5 wins. Even with the upswings and down swings, that is still roughly the range, and always was.
Had the haters and trolls not been cackling so much, fewer fans would would be in “I told you so” mode right now.
Joe – I think you missed my point. It’s too early to claim I told you so. 1/3 of the season is left. Nobody knows what that will hold. It could be success or it could be failure so claiming victory is very premature. Why is everyone in such a rush to define the future rather than just letting it play out?