Free agency for Justin Turner and the Los Angeles Dodgers has widely gone as expected to this point. The club extended the one-year, $17.2 million qualifying offer by the November deadline, which Turner predictably rejected.
Los Angeles has identified re-signing the 32-year-old as among their offseason priorities. Manager Dave Roberts called Turner ‘invaluable’ on and off the field and expressed hope a return was in the cards.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and San Francisco Giants have been reported as having varying degrees of interest in Turner. According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, the St. Louis Cardinals are in the same boat:
Sources: #STLCards have interest in free agent Justin Turner. For match to be realistic, they'd probably need to trade Peralta. @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 29, 2016
After primarily playing shortstop in 2015, Jhonny Peralta slid over to third base this season. It was a move made possible by the emergence of rookie Aledmys Diaz, and thus would allow St. Louis to trade Peralta, who is owed $10 million in the final year of his contract, if they are to sign Turner.
In his first full season as an everyday third baseman, Turner batted .275/.339/.493 with 34 doubles, 27 home runs, 90 RBIs and a 124 OPS+ over 151 games. He overcame a slow start that was a byproduct over undergoing microfracture knee surgery during the offseason.
Aside from producing at the plate, Turner was named a Gold Glove finalist for the first time in his career. Over the past three seasons with the Dodgers, Turner hit .296/.364/.492 with 81 doubles, 50 home runs, 193 RBI and a 136 OPS+ in 386 games.
Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said the club would look to address a potential void at third base via trade if Turner signs elsewhere. Los Angeles was said to be discussing a trade with the Chicago White Sox involving Todd Frazier and Chris Sale, but reportedly prefer Turner to Frazier.
