LA’s Turner not going anywhere after all
Veteran returns to Dodgers after testing free agency
Justin Turner’s extended flirtation with free agency ended where it began — with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Along the way, the third baseman had doubts about whether he would return to his hometown team and wondered if his mask-less appearance on the field to celebrate the Dodgers’ World Series championship would hurt him.
Turner got yanked from the clinching Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning last October after testing positive for the coronavirus. He wasn’t initially on the field as his teammates celebrated the franchise’s first World Series title since 1988.
Instead, Turner was confined to a small room at Globe Life Field in Texas, pained as he watched the hugs and high-fives go on without him. Major League Baseball said he violated COVID-19 protocols by returning to the field, pulling down his mask and posing for photos. After an investigation by MLB, Turner was not disciplined and he issued an apology.
“It was extremely difficult. I experienced just about every range of emotion that you can possibly have,” he said Friday on a virtual call from spring training in Arizona. “For me, sitting back in that room and watching the guys dogpile, personally, it felt like it was the third time I had to sit and watch a team celebrate winning a World Series. That was tough.”
Turner and the Dodgers were on the losing end of World Series appearances in 2017 and 2018 — with Houston and Boston, respectively, partying on Los Angeles’ home field.
“I still have not been able to be on the field for the last out and celebrate a championship,” Turner said, “and that’s something I’m determined to show up and work for every day and have that experience at the end of this year.”
Turner became a free agent at the end of last season when his $64 million, four-year contract expired. He hit .307 with four homers and 23 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened season and .293 (17 for 58) with three homers and six RBIs in the postseason, including .320 with a pair of solo homers in the World Series.
How close did he come to signing elsewhere?
“There were some times where I was like, ‘Oh man, like, this doesn’t look good, like I’m not sure what’s going to happen,’” he said.
Dodgers fans weren’t shy about letting Turner know they wanted their red-bearded veteran back. He saw their comments on social media and he heard them during his and his wife’s nightly dog-walking ritual.
“There were people walking down the streets yelling, ‘You got to sign back. You got to come back,’” said Turner, whose normally unruly beard was neatly trimmed for spring training. “That’s why I love them so much. They are the best fans in baseball.”
COVID-19: Thirteen of 4,336 tests for COVID-19 were positive during intake for Major League Baseball’s spring training, a rate of 0.3%.
The commissioner’s office said Friday that nine positive samples involved players and four involved staff. Positive tests included 11 of the 30 teams.
After the intake screening, there were no new positives among 2,298 monitoring test samples. Samples thus far totaled 6,634.
ARBITRATION: Outfielder Ian Happ defeated the Chicago Cubs in baseball’s final salary arbitration case this year on Friday and will get a raise from $624,000 to $4.1 million.
Teams finished with a 5-4 advantage in cases that went to a hearing, their second straight winning record after two consecutive years in which players had an advantage. Overall, teams are 325-247 since arbitration began in 1974.
METS: New York made a late addition to their starting rotation, agreeing to a $20 million, two-year contract with righthander Taijuan Walker.
The 28-year-old joins a rotation headed by two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom.
Mets manager Luis Rojas cautioned the deal was not yet final but already was viewing the addition as a boost.
“A guy like him, it just makes your rotation so strong when you can add him,” Rojas said from spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
YANKEES: Brett Gardner is returning to the team for a 14th season.
The 37-year outfielder and New York agreed Friday to a $4 million, one-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.
Gardner hit .223 with five homers and 15 RBIs in 130 at-bats last year.