Well, the Blue Jays said they needed to get another bat to replace their main issue from last season and they have chosen to go out and get the veteran 3B/DH Justin Turner. I mean, he may not be as cool as Jorge Soler, but he’s not that bad of a hitter and does add depth to the Blue Jays lineup.
In 146 games last season Turner hit 23 home runs with a .276 batting average and an OPS of .800 which is higher than Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s OPS last season. Turner would also have had the second most home runs on the Blue Jays last season and could be expected to hit more at the Rogers Centre.
Turner might be one of the more consistent hitters that were left on the free agent market, considering he has had 5 seasons of 20+ home runs since 2015 and a combined 156 long balls in that same timeframe. Also since 2013, Turner has never hit below 114 WRC+ whereas Jorge Soler has hit below 114 WRC+ 6 times, including 3 of his last 4 seasons. Justin Turner hits home runs and has maintains a career average of .288 while also hitting near or above 20 home runs in almost every season of his career since 2014, besides 2020, where he missed two weeks of the 60-game shortened schedule. Soler on the other hand is more of a home run hitter where he hit 36 home runs but batted .250 last season.
I think that if that is the Blue Jays’ last signing, then it will be quite disappointing for the fans and this signing won’t feel so good. But if there’s more to come, I feel like this signing could age a lot better. Although Turner is a third baseman, he is expected it play DH, so we still have a big hole on the left side of the infield.