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When Noah Syndergaard selected the Dodgers in free company, he referenced how “everything they touch turns to gold.”
The Dodgers have developed a outstanding penchant for getting probably the most out of gamers trying to recapture their outdated kind, flip their careers round or discover a degree of play beforehand unseen. It goes for pitchers and place gamers alike, from Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney final 12 months to Max Muncy and Chris Taylor in years prior.
However there might not be a greater poster little one or catalyst of the phenomenon over the previous decade than Justin Turner, who was forged off by the Mets after the 2013 season earlier than overhauling his swing and turning into one of many Dodgers’ all-time nice third basemen.
Turner was value 0.7 wins above alternative (Baseball-Reference) throughout 4 seasons in New York earlier than getting non-tendered. The Dodgers signed him to a minor-league contract with a spring-training invite in February 2014. Over the following 9 seasons, he gathered 34 bWAR whereas serving as a pillar in his area people. His great efforts with the Justin Turner Basis have been rewarded this 12 months when he received the Roberto Clemente Award.
Now, the Southern California native is transferring on after agreeing to a two-year deal value almost $22 million with Boston.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers had expressed a need to convey Turner again, however dropping him was all the time a risk after they declined his $16 million membership choice and paid him a $2 million buyout. The Dodgers and Pink Sox have, in essence, swapped designated hitters. The Turner information broke not lengthy after the Dodgers inked J.D. Martinez to a one-year deal.
Strictly on the sphere, there have been extra expensive departures. Trea Turner, probably the most coveted shortstops in free company, signed a large 11-year take care of the Phillies. Anderson, an All-Star for the primary time this 12 months and the Dodgers’ 2022 chief in innings pitched, went down the freeway to the Angels.
However in an offseason of appreciable change for the Dodgers, there might not be a extra vital exit than Justin Turner, contemplating his management and what he meant to the workforce and town over the previous decade.
Turner departs because the Dodgers’ all-time postseason chief in video games performed, hits, doubles, house runs, runs and RBIs, statistics that signify each the franchise’s sustained success over his tenure with the workforce and the third baseman’s contributions towards making that success potential.
He modified his profession with the Dodgers, going from a light-hitting utility participant in Baltimore and New York to probably the most dependable hitters within the coronary heart of the Dodgers’ order. After hitting a mixed eight house runs in 318 video games between the Orioles and Mets, he launched 50 in his first three seasons with the Dodgers. He went on to turn out to be certainly one of three Dodgers third basemen within the 100-homer membership together with Ron Cey and Adrian Beltre, in addition to a member of the franchise’s 1,000-hit membership. He averaged a 133 OPS+ in Los Angeles and was an above-average hitter in every of his 9 seasons with the franchise.
He additionally had a knack for taking his sport up a notch when it mattered most. In 2017, he hit probably the most memorable house runs in Dodgers postseason historical past when he walked off the Cubs in Sport 2 of the Nationwide League Championship Collection with a three-run homer, knocking in all 4 Dodgers runs in a 4-1 win. The blast got here precisely 29 years to the day of Kirk Gibson’s iconic World Collection walk-off in opposition to the A’s.
Turner, a Lakeview native who received a School World Collection championship at Cal State Fullerton, nonetheless remembers precisely the place he was as a child at his grandmother’s home when Gibson hit that fist-pumping homer. The recollections made his personal mark in Dodgers postseason lore all of the extra particular.
He was in that place after making the choice to re-sign with the Dodgers whereas at Kenley Jansen‘s wedding ceremony in Curacao in December 2016. Each Turner and Jansen signed their new long-term offers that month, and each gamers performed key roles within the Dodgers’ three journeys to the World Collection from 2017 to 2020.
Now, each are in Boston (Jansen left the Dodgers final 12 months). Former MVP Cody Bellinger is in Chicago. Trea Turner is in Philadelphia. A youth motion is quickly to start, as prospects comparable to Miguel Vargas, James Outman and Bobby Miller get set to make an influence. It is an offseason of serious turnover in Los Angeles, one in contrast to most through the Dodgers’ sustained stretch of successful and one which comes after a stunning early playoff exit marred a franchise-best 111-win season.
The departures have outweighed the additions because the Dodgers try to defend their division crown whereas additionally resetting their luxury-tax penalties. Even after signing Syndergaard and Martinez and re-signing Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers have misplaced about 9 internet wins in free company based mostly on final season’s FanGraphs WAR totals:
Departures:
Trea Turner: 6.3 fWAR
Tyler Anderson: 4.0
Justin Turner: 2.4
Cody Bellinger: 1.7
Andrew Heaney: 1.1
Chris Martin: 1.6
Tommy Kahnle: 0.0
Additions:
Noah Syndergaard: 2.2
JD Martinez: 1.0
Shelby Miller: 0.4
Clayton Kershaw: 3.8
J.P Feyereisen: 1.0
Yonny Hernandez: -0.3
The additions of all of the Dodgers’ free brokers mixed (8.1 fWAR) do not equal the worth of simply the 2 Turners (8.7).
Even at 37 years outdated final season, Justin Turner remained an above-average hitter. However the imprint and influence he left in Los Angeles goes far past his clutch hitting. He’s the one three-time winner of the Roy Campanella Award, given to the Dodger who exemplifies the spirit and management of the late Corridor of Fame catcher and voted on by gamers and coaches. He even had a day named after him by the Los Angeles Metropolis Council in 2019 on account of his philanthropic work.
When the pandemic hit, Turner started shopping for meals from native eating places to distribute to youngsters who had been counting on sizzling lunches that faculties normally offered.
“I feel we offered shut to at least one million meals over an eight-month interval,” Turner mentioned whereas accepting the Clemente Award this 12 months. “So, each time there is a want within the metropolis of Los Angeles, we’re open to leap into it.”
That, as a lot as something, shall be Turner’s lasting influence and a void not simply stuffed.
Prime tales from FOX Sports activities:
Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and NL West for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Comply with him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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