NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Cubs on Wednesday claimed 23-year-old right-handed pitcher Jacob Turner off of waivers from the Miami Marlins, after the latter team surprisingly designated him for assignment earlier in the week.
From there, the two sides had two days to complete a trade, lest the Marlins be faced with the unenviable position of having to pull Turner back from trade waivers, and then place him on outright waivers (where a claiming team gets to take him for nothing at all). If you count, two days from two days ago is, well, today.
So, you can expect some kind of resolution to the Turner situation today (even if it happens to be an interim resolution, with the Marlins pulling Turner back, and then all hell breaking loose). My guess is that each side was holding out until the last minute, with the Cubs offering very little and the Marlins threatening to go the outright route, which would probably lead to Turner going to the Rockies (unless they don’t even want him for nothing, having passed on him during the trade waivers), or the Diamondbacks (who now have priority over the Cubs thanks to yesterday’s win).
Would the Marlins really do that? Burn the trade to the ground and accept nothing at all for Turner? Probably not. But they’ve at least got to threaten it to try and get the most they can from the Cubs.
My expectation is that a deal will be completed/announced today, with the Cubs giving up a low-level, decent-upside prospect (and/or a guy like Nate Schierholtz plus cash, if the Marlins want him). Stay on your toes.
Once a deal is done, we can do some analyzing and projecting for Turner, who will have to go not only on the 40-man roster, but also on the 25-man roster (he is out of minor league options).
