Soooo should we remain patient as Kim Ng wants us to? Remember when signing Justin Turner looked realistic? He couldn’t be that expensive right? Well, he’s not coming to the Miami Marlins, he’s going to sign with the Boston Red Sox. What is going on?! Are there any positives here at all? What can we even expect when no one seems to want to sign with The Fish? Well, Kim Ng did sign another hitter to a Minor League deal.
The Miami Marlins missed out on yet another free agent target.
Justin Turner received way too much from the Sawx. Way too much. Turner broke out with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016 at the age of 31. In 2016, Turner hit .275/.339/.493 with 27 home runs and 90 RBI. In 2017, he followed that production up with a .322/.415/.530 batting line, along with 21 home runs and 71 RBI. In 2018, Justin Turner batted .312/.406/.518 and in 2019 he batted .290/.372/.509, with 27 home runs and 67 RBI added to that production. He was a good hitter back in the day.
In the shortened 2020 season, Turner batted .307/.400/.460 and then in 2021 he hit .278/.361/.471 with 27 home runs and 87 RBI. Turner wasn’t as good during the 2022 season. Turner batted .278/.350/.438 with just 13 home runs and 81 RBI. The 38 year old next year is unlikely to be very productive in 2023, and certainly doesn’t look like a good fit defensively at third base. Turner’s Exit Velocity dropped from 90.9 last season to 89.5 this season on top of that.
1 year $7-8 million maybe, but $14 million?! A player option on top of that?! No wonder Boston’s Chaim Bloom is one of the least popular GM’s in the game. It’s safe to say that the Miami Marlins shouldn’t have matched that, and it was good that we didn’t. All of that said, it’s yet another free agent target that isn’t going to be on the 2023 roster.
The Miami Marlins did sign another hitter to a Minor League deal though…
2B/CF Garrett Hampson is our latest signing. The speedster is a career .235/.296/.370 bat, who was non-tendered by the Colorado Rockies after batting .211/.287/.307 in 2022. It’s a solid signing for depth, but The Fish are still yet to meaningfully improve the offense.