Would Justin Turner to the Twins make sense?

[AZTwin]

LA Dodgers are very much in the Rendon sweepstakes which would take Turners spot. He has said to be willing to move to 2B but Gavin Lux is there and the Dodgers are not interested in moving him. Justin Turner is 35 years old and has 1 year at $20M a year left on his contract. This could free up some money for the Dodgers for Rendon. Turner is on the backside of his career so I dont think he would be overly expensive either.

 

Could Cole Sands, Lewis Thorpe and Gilberto Celestino get it done for 1 year of Turner at age 35?

[Otto von Ballpark]

FWIW, the Dodgers were under the luxury tax threshold last year, so I don't think they are under much pressure to stay under for 2020 (escalating penalties reset once you get under for a year). They could overlap Turner and Rendon for a year pretty easily. And they are currently projected at $47 mil under for 2020, per Cot's.

 

And as I mentioned on another thread, the Dodgers have also found ways to creatively lower their tax burden without straight salary dumps.

[goulik]

LA Dodgers are very much in the Rendon sweepstakes which would take Turners spot. He has said to be willing to move to 2B but Gavin Lux is there and the Dodgers are not interested in moving him. Justin Turner is 35 years old and has 1 year at $20M a year left on his contract. This could free up some money for the Dodgers for Rendon. Turner is on the backside of his career so I dont think he would be overly expensive either.

Could Cole Sands, Lewis Thorpe and Gilberto Celestino get it done for 1 year of Turner at age 35?

For a one year rental player at 20 million? No thanks to that trade

[railmarshalljon]

From what I read on Dodgers blogs (I dont know how I ended up there lol) but they were considering moving him to first in the event that they signed a third baseman, pushing Bellinger to the outfield. They mentioned that Turner would be open to the move and it would make sense considering his declining defense.

[USAFChief]

No.

[jud6312]

Three of our (likely) Top-20 prospects, one of whom might actually have to be in the rotation this year, for a 35-year-old with one year remaining on his deal?

 

Seems a bit of an overpay.

 

 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

From what I read on Dodgers blogs (I dont know how I ended up there lol) but they were considering moving him to first in the event that they signed a third baseman, pushing Bellinger to the outfield. They mentioned that Turner would be open to the move and it would make sense considering his declining defense.

Bellinger is already primarily an outfielder -- he only started 28 games at 1B in 2019.

 

Turner could take 1B reps from the departing David Freese. Their other first baseman (Muncy) could take more reps at other positions too, maybe even with a trade or reduced role for Hernandez or Pollock.

 

I have no doubt the Dodgers could make it work.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Could Cole Sands, Lewis Thorpe and Gilberto Celestino get it done for 1 year of Turner at age 35?

FWIW, baseballtradevalues.com calls it a "moderate overpay" for the Twins, but I suspect it's not far off.

Per that site, Thorpe is a pretty close value match for Turner himself -- but of course, most teams probably have a 40 FV Lewis Thorpe type they can spare to add a 3-4 WAR third baseman. So adding a couple lower value guys like Sands and/or Celestino could be necessary too.

 

https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trade-simulator/

 

Not that I think the Dodgers are necessarily going to move a still-quality player like Turner. Even if they don't like his 3B defense that much anymore, he had a 132 wRC+ last year and a 125 projection for 2020 -- that should also play fine in their mix at 1B. Might be more likely to push out a more redundant pending FA like Enrique Hernandez, or even a guy like AJ Pollock in one of their big money trades.

[ChrisKnutson]

Definitely a step in the right direction, although I doubt the Dodgers would move on from Turner just like that even with Rendon onboard.