Now the Brewers Are Revealed to Be a Mystery Team on Justin Turner
Have the Brewers just been lying in wait this whole time? Not necessarily waiting on the lowest-of-the-low free agents to slide, but the pretty darn good ones who have to take a little less than expected?
Because not one hour after it comes out that the Brewers are a surprise team in on Marcus Semien, Jon Heyman drops this Mystery Bomb:
The Brewers are one of two mystery teams showing interest in Justin Turner. Dodgers, Jays and one more mystery contender are in the derby. Turner will only consider contenders but has a final 4.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 26, 2021
To be sure, Turner makes sense on paper for the Brewers much in the same way Semien does: the Brewers offense could use a boost, they’ve got spots in the infield where that boost could occur, and the NL Central is all kinds of winnable. Use up your best years of Christian Yelich and Josh Hader while competing? While Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes are healthy and cost-controlled? Yup, all checks out.
But the money. Are the Brewers really sitting on a big pile of free agent cash that they’ve hidden from the world while trying to work out their TV deal? I guess we’ll see. Even at 36, Turner could be a big offensive upgrade (not unlike when the Brewers surprisingly signed Aramis Ramirez in his later years, actually, now that I think about it).
Hey, who’s that other Mystery Team, by the way? The Braves and Nationals could make some sense given the desire for a big bat at third.
Your other layer of consideration here – outside of this just being a leverage play by Turner’s camp to get the Dodgers to step up – is what happens on the third base market. If Turner actually were to go to a surprise team like the Brewers, you could have the Dodgers and the Blue Jays left looking to add a big bat at third base. Thus, all those Kris Bryant trade rumors – he’s been connected to both teams – come right back. Same with the Braves and Nationals, depending on how this plays out.
