As discussed this morning, even if the Chicago Cubs aren’t going to make any more major offseason additions to the roster, you didn’t get the sense from the front office press conference, or from Craig Counsell’s, that the Cubs are ruling out additional bullpen or bench moves.
To that end, Justin Turner is reportedly a possibility:
Sources: Cubs have discussed signing Justin Turner if Alex Bregman goes elsewhere. With Patrick Mooney: www.nytimes.com/athletic/612…
— Ken Rosenthal (@ken-rosenthal.bsky.social) 2025-02-10T23:14:32.474ZTwo things on that, broadly speaking:
1.) The Cubs have had reported interest in Turner in past offseasons, so he’s likely a guy they just generally think is a good fit at the margins of the roster and in the clubhouse; and
2.) These kinds of hyper-specific reports about lower-tier free agents tend to be very accurate, since there’s not a ton of value in tossing out rumors about non-star signings, you know?
That is to say, I buy this as a plausibility. Justin Turner, 40, probably isn’t much more than barely passable at third base at this point, but he can still hit (.268/.349/.422/116 wRC+ the last two years). Having his right-handed bat available off the bench would certainly be a nice addition regardless of any other considerations.
Of course, as Mooney and Rosenthal point out, there are other considerations, and this rumor getting out there now might be as much about Alex Bregman as it is about Justin Turner:
“The Chicago Cubs, continuing to explore options even after the start of their spring training, are considering free agent Justin Turner as a potential addition in case Alex Bregman signs with another team, multiple league sources told The Athletic on Monday.
The Cubs remain in the mix for both free agents, whose markets overlap to a degree ….
Accounting for the competitive balance tax, the Cubs have roughly $209 million committed for this season, according to FanGraphs’ database, though the ultimate number given to president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer is unclear.
Otherwise, there is consensus within the Cubs’ baseball group that Bregman would be a great fit in this lineup. Signing the Scott Boras client to a shorter-term, high-salary contract modeled after Cody Bellinger’s deal — if Bregman isn’t adamant about a six- or seven-year pact — would be a logical next move in the organization’s multiyear rebuild.”
To be quite clear, I would not say that Turner is viewed as a “fallback” to missing on Bregman, both because Turner is a short-term bench option (while Bregman is a long-term impact starting player) and because we don’t know the extent to which the Cubs are seriously trying to land Bregman on a market deal (such that they might “miss” on him and have to “fall back” to someone else). I think Turner makes sense for the Cubs regardless.
That said, the fact that this is all framed around Bregman does make me wonder if the Cubs – and other suitors – are feeling a sense of urgency about knowing what’s going to happen. The Cubs aren’t going to give Bregman a 6+ year deal, but if that deal isn’t coming from any other team, then they probably want to know ASAP whether he would accept their version of a short-term deal. And, yes, if Bregman DID accept that kind of deal, then you wouldn’t want to also go out and sign Turner. There’s a relationship here, even if not a straight one-to-one.
None of this is designed to get your hopes up on Bregman, by the way. The Cubs clearly do have an interest there, but only if they can get a clear winner of a short-term deal. We don’t know whether that’s actually a realistic possibility, and honestly I have my doubts. Because of that, I do think it’s worth talking to a guy like Justin Turner anyway, since you don’t want to have to COUNT on Matt Shaw breaking out right away at third base without any kind of real veteran protection behind him besides Jon Berti (whom you probably want to move around), Nicky Lopez (who may not make the team), and Vidal Brujan/Gage Workman (who may not succeed).
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