The Cubs are considering Justin Turner as an alternative to Alex Bregman, write Patrick Mooney and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Turner will be limited to one year as he enters his age-40 season. Bregman has reportedly continued to seek a deal of six-plus years, while the Cubs seem to prefer a much shorter term.
Turner remains a quality offensive player. He combined for a .259/.354/.383 slash across 539 plate appearances between the Blue Jays and Mariners last season. His production improved after a deadline trade to Seattle, no small feat for a hitter adapting to the game’s most pitcher-friendly home park. It was the 11th consecutive season in which Turner has been an above-average hitter. While he doesn’t have the same power that he did during his peak years with the Dodgers, he’s still a strong on-base presence with very good strike zone discipline.
Chicago isn’t the lone team with interest in both Bregman and Turner. Mooney and Rosenthal write that the Tigers and Red Sox have also shown some level of interest in Turner. That comprises three of what appears to be the top four suitors — alongside the incumbent Astros — on Bregman. Houston has not been linked to Turner and wouldn’t make sense as a landing spot with Yordan Alvarez ticketed for DH work.
The Cubs could be a tough roster fit in their own right. Seiya Suzuki will get the majority of at-bats at designated hitter. He’s capable of playing right field but squeezed out of a starting outfield of Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker. Turner would be a target as a role-playing corner infield bat. The Cubs have lefty-swinging Michael Busch lined up for the bulk of the first base work. They don’t have any kind of established third baseman after including Isaac Paredes in the Tucker trade. Unless they make a late-offseason strike for Bregman, they’d very likely turn the hot corner to top prospect Matt Shaw.
Turner is not an everyday third baseman at this point of his career. He started four games there last season after logging seven starts in 2023. He hasn’t played more than half a season at the position since 2021. Turner has played more frequently at first base, where he started 40 games last year. He could take some at-bats from Busch against lefty pitching, though Busch had a respectable showing (.258/.330/.382 in 100 plate appearances) in unfavorable platoon situations as a rookie.
The Tigers and Red Sox have each been seeking a right-handed bat. Boston has limited flexibility to accommodate another player at the bottom of the defensive spectrum. The Sox have Rafael Devers and Triston Casas as their corner infield tandem. Masataka Yoshida is lined up for the bulk of the DH work going into the third season of his five-year deal. Boston would probably use Bregman at second base if they landed him. The Sox gave Turner himself four starts at the keystone when he played in Boston in 2023. He wouldn’t play second regularly but could rotate through the position alongside Vaughn Grissom and David Hamilton if top prospect Kristian Campbell opens the season in Triple-A.
Detroit signed Gleyber Torres to play second base. That kicked Colt Keith over to first base, squeezing righty-hitting Spencer Torkelson out of the starting lineup. Turner’s right-handed bat could play well in a lefty-heavy corner infield/DH mix. Keith and Jace Jung, the projected starter at third base if they don’t sign Bregman, each hit from the left side. Kerry Carpenter, who’ll split his time between right field and DH, is a lefty hitter who mashes when he holds the platoon advantage.
Seattle showed interest in a Turner reunion early in the offseason. That’s less likely now that they’ve added righty-hitting Donovan Solano on a $3.5MM free agent deal to platoon with Luke Raley at first base. Mooney and Rosenthal report that the Reds have also spoken with Turner this offseason, though it’s not clear if that interest is ongoing. Cincinnati acquired Gavin Lux to deepen the infield and could give righty hitters Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Spencer Steer a decent amount of run at first base.
Eventually he will retire as a Dodger
He is deferring that for now.
I’ll tell you one thing that won’t be deferred – the 2024 dodgers world series championship
Just bring back Rizzo for gods sakes
How about neither?
I agree. I don’t think either guy really fills a need and would be worth another 40 man dfa. They have 5 top 100 prospects projected to hit the bigs this year. Stop signing all these geriatric money burners.
A team likely won’t need to DFA anyone at this point with the 60 day IL again opening up.
If Alex Bregman doesn’t wind up with the Cubs then Justin Turner makes more sense than Anthony Rizzo. Turner has the ability to occasionally play 3B and as a right-handed hitter would be a part-time compliment for left-handed hitting Cubs 1B Michael Busch. Rizzo’s lefty bat wouldn’t compliment Busch’s. Theoretically, Rizzo could get limited reps at DH although that role will primarily fall to Seiya Suzuki now that he’s been displaced in RF by Kyle Tucker. I’m guessing that the Cubs would prefer to keep any extra DH PA’s available to a more versatile member of their roster who might need a break from the field.
All that said, Busch put up respectable numbers against LHP in 2024 and has earned a full-time starting role at 1B. The primary argument for the Cubs adding a veteran 1B is that nobody on their current 40-man roster has much if any experience at that position. Either Turner or Rizzo would add ample postseason experience to a Cubs team looking to win the NL Central and make a deep run in the playoffs.
I agree, and Rizzo doesn’t want to come back to the Cubs. They traded him. People forget that.
Who forgets that?
And anybody who improves their batting line once landing in Seattle must have something left or maybe he’s immortal or something lol.
Busch played some third base in the minor leagues. Is there any talk of him getting some reps there for the Cubs and letting them open up at bats for say Turner at first
If Joe Maddon was still managing the Cubs virtually every position player was expected to man at least one spot beyond his accustomed role. As I recall, only 1B Anthony Rizzo played one position aside from occasionally filling in at DH.
I suspect that Craig Counsell will continue to utilize Michael Busch almost exclusively at 1B in 2025, similar to what he did last year despite the presence of Cody Bellinger on the team. Busch appeared in 152 games in 2024, 142 of them at 1B. He started 135 games, 130 at 1B, 3 at 2B and 2 at DH. He only played 1/3 of an inning at 3B in 2025.
Versatility is always welcome when a team is generally limited to 13 position player on their 26-man roster. It’s even more necessary for clubs saddled with a player who can only DH. The Cubs aren’t in that category with their primary DH Seiya Suzuki also capable of playing RF when Kyle Tucker needs a break.
Not the worst piece if he’s willing to accept a bench role of backing up Busch, Suzuki, and Tucker (at DH, Suzuki to RF) and pinch hitting for the catcher in late inning situations. Assuming Shaw wins the 3B job, that makes the bench Berti, Turner, Kelly, and Canario – an improvement over Mastrobuoni or Madrigal, Wisdom, various catchers, and Tauchman.
You want a guy on your bench who can only play backup 1B, DH and emergency 3rd while hitting low .200s with very little pop
259/.354/.383 in 539 at bats
That was his stat line last year.
For the last guy on the bench that is pretty solid numbers, especially when his role will be scaled back a bit with more focus on facing lefties in a platoon-advantage.
There wasn’t a single team in baseball last year that had their “13th” position player put that stat line up over the course of the season, except MAYBE the Dodgers.
So, yeah, if my top choices went elsewhere and I was faced with having to roster some “4-A” guy, I’d ABSOLUTELY take a guy on the bench basically guaranteed for a 725 OPS who can play the corner spots if needed
Hell, his OPS was still better than the Tigers team OPS last season
I don’t see the Cubs without trading Suzuki. M’s still are the best fit.
Don’t know if it leaned more towards the speculation side, but I don’t understand why Suzuki was ever brought up in rumors this offseason. He’s the type of player that helps the team win. Trading him and using that money to sign Turner and a reliever would be a poor decision imo.
100% agree. I love Suzuki’s game and the Cubs would be foolish to trade him.
Maybe Suzuki can learn 1B. Lol
Aloha Cubs25, lol I’m sure you’re being sarcastic.
But as one that follows NPB baseball and lived in Japan, Seiya-san is actually a very good ball player. In Japan he was considered a 5-tool player and pitched in highschool over there, his fastball at time in the lower 90’s. He’s also very fast. In his rookie season in Chicago he averages 28.6 feet per second sprint speed which was 12th overall in the MLB and 1st amongst RF’s.
Lastly, he won 5 GG’s while in Hiroshima. I don’t know what happened this past year with his defense. I felt Ross helped him tremendously in 2023. Who knows, maybe he could play 1st. I wish the farm system would work with folks like Caissie and Canario in playing some 1st as well. Gives the team some options, when Busch needs a rest or God forbid suffers an injury. Take care now. Mahalo!
I agree Salzilla he would be a great fit in Seattle and I was hoping for something like that especially after hearing he was none too pleased about being DH-only this season.
MLBTR is getting to be as bad as Sports Illustrated.
Turner, at 40, is being considered as anything other than a ‘break glass only in case of extreme emergency’ 3Bman?
As for “He could take some at-bats from Busch against lefty pitching, though Busch had a respectable showing (.258/.330/.382 in 100 plate appearances) in unfavorable platoon situations as a rookie,” 100 plate appearances are almost meaningless and not in any statistically significant in any real, predictive sense. Busch, though, does have a total of 3,401 PA including his college appearances, and 1,640 milb PA to draw on.
Try those.
Except nobody cares what he did in the minor leagues, he’s a major leaguer now.
Sign Turner …
but wait until it’s my turn again in my slow draft.
Turner isn’t a 3B anymore, he wouldn’t be much help to the team, he’s still a starter as a DH/1B. Not sure he’s looking for a bench job.
Reds drafted Turner but traded him along with Ryan Freel to the Orioles for Ramon Hernandez.
Not a vegan but after a wrist injury in 2018, after advice from a teammate Turner ditched dairy in his recovery process and has credited that for longevity in his career ever since. I enjoyed his time in Toronto and felt he was a good influence here. Doesn’t need to be a full time DH with ability to do 1B. Also did a few games at 3B but far more limited.
Wish him well and hope he lands with a good team.
2017 was his best year, so it sounds like he should get back on white gold, Milk.
I’m drinking milk as we speak. Wow, is that some good milk! Mmmmm. Everybody should go get a delicious, tall, frosty glass of milk!
So I ask Alexa: When do the Chicago Cubs play next.
Alexa: The Chicago Cubs 2025 season is over.
Good to know. It does give next ST game info, so I’m taking it as an editorial comment.
Siri said the same thing!
I just don’t see the need to force Detroit into these rumors. If Torkelson shows up in ST and shows his bat can help, what would they do with Turner? Even if Tork gets optioned, Malloy is a Harris acquisition that can cover the RH DH role with Carpenter. They need a 3B, which Turner is no longer.
Doctor Zaius is looking for one more go of it, eh?
I love a player like Turner – he just keep grinding it out for the love of the game (and prob a lil money too). And then you get a player like Bumgarner who gets cut mid contract and just quits from there. Go JT!
Not enough people dump on BUMgarner. Terrible in the clubhouse, just an overall scumbag of a human. He’s a thug.
Cubs need a 3b who can maybe play 1b not a maybe 1b who has no business playing 3b. Urias is a better fit.
And what any of this has to do with Bregman I sure don’t know. More Cubs bias nonsense.
Giving Turner even limited innings at third makes absolutely no sense as the subpar defense will erode the value of his above average offense. Coupled with yesterday’s report about Berti, the team is considering subtracting a quality glove from an unsettled position to give opportunities to a player no longer capable of playing the position. That is textbook incompetence.
I wish the Yankees tried to sign him for first. The glove work over there is still valuable.
Turner is barely above replacement level now, but he’s got that unique late career star power of “ooh now he plays for this team! Cool!” So he’s worth the promotional value, but in terms of on field productivity there’s no reason to not give a minimum salary prospect the spot for an opportunity to establish themselves.
Turner was a very good mentor to the Red Sox young players, especially Triston Casas. Perhaps he’s worth having around for that with guys like Busch and Shaw. However, the elephant in the room that is Suzuki and the fact that he has to DH, and doesn’t want to probably makes it even harder to bring in another DH
Turner at this stage is a pinch-hitter, DH, emergency only infielder (other than SS). He does have clubhouse intangibles but I’d really have Iglasias as my end of roster righty bat as while you give up potential power, you get so much more with the glove and speed.
Nice try Boras