The Toronto Blue Jays have been floated in talks with several high-priced free agents this offseason, making a strong effort to add some punch to their lineup.
Early on in free agency, there was a lot of smoke about their involvement in their pursuit of then-free agent Shohei Ohtani. They even appeared to be the favorite at one point in the negotiations with speculation he was heading to Toronto to sign a contract.
Prior to the two-way star joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Blue Jays were also reportedly among teams to agree to his proposed 10-year contract pitch.
But after missing out, Toronto has been on the lookout for offensive additions and momentum toward them signing a right-handed bat with J.D. Martinez being one of the rumored options.
But on Tuesday, the Blue Jays reportedly signed former Boston Red Sox and Dodgers infielder Justin Turner to a one-year contract, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network:
Source: Justin Turner's 1-year deal with Toronto has a $13 million base salary with $1.5 million in roster and performance bonuses. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 30, 2024
After nine seasons with the Dodgers, Turner joined the Red Sox prior to the 2023 season. In 146 games, he batted .276/.345/.455 with 23 home runs, 96 RBI, 86 runs scored with a 114 OPS+.
Turner fills a need for the Blue Jays, who struggled mightily to find consistent at-bats without severe swing-and-miss issues.
Justin Turner’s recent production
With the Red Sox, Turner posted one of his best seasons from a run-production standpoint. His remarkable consistency to maintain a solid batting average was again replicated as he posted back-to-back seasons with a .278 batting average from 2021-to-2022.
Turner’s career strikeout-rate in 15 Major League seasons is 15.2%, and in year-15 he finished at 17.6%.
But his uptick in strikeouts can be backed up in is dominance in a Red Sox lineup that required run producers, a job the 39-year-old will continue with the Blue Jays in 2024.
Dating back to 2019, Turners owns a combined 125 wRC+ with an .827 on-base plus slugging. In that same span, he carries fairly even platoon splits versus both right-handed (124 wRC+) and left-handed pitching (127 wRC+).
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