Milwaukee Brewers Reportedly Offered Justin Turner a Multi-Year Deal

Over the last two weeks or so, there have been multiple connections between the Milwaukee Brewers and free-agent third baseman Justin Turner. But I — like I’m guessing many of you — didn’t exactly know how serious Milwaukee was.

As the 36-year-old Turner tries to land a multi-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he has played since 2014, were these rumors just David Stearns checking in to see if he could lure the third baseman to Milwaukee on a one-year deal like he’s done in the past? Or was there more to it?

Well, based on a recent report from Jon Heyman, it was certainly the latter as the Milwaukee Brewers — along with the Dodgers — have reportedly offered Turner a multi-year deal.

With the addition of Kolten Wong at second base and Keston Hiura moving over to first, Stearns creatively addressed one major need this offseason, but third-base remains a question mark. Enter Turner, who since 2014 has a .302 batting average, an .886 OPS, and a 139 OPS+ during those seven seasons with LA.

From a pure baseball standpoint, there were never any doubts about whether or not this move made sense. The issue was always going to be the financials. As we all know, the Milwaukee Brewers are a bit cash-strapped after not being able to have fans in the stands last season, and it is unlike them to offer a multi-year deal to a 36-year-old.

However, at the plate, Turner doesn’t appear to be slowing down, slashing .307/.400/.460 in 2020. Not to mention that he has plenty of postseason experience and has been a leader on those Dodgers teams. And maybe this is wishful thinking, but perhaps the addition of Turner would provide the Brewers a Mike Moustakas-like effect off the field and in the locker room.

As Heyman mentions, the Dodgers remain the favorite to sign Turner as they continue to spend big money this offseason, but he calls the Brewers “hopeful.” In another report by Robert Murray of FanSided, he does say that Milwaukee’s offer is “competitive,” but a source of his also says that Turner leaving LA is “unlikely.”

From the sounds of it anyways, if the Milwaukee Brewers are going to land Turner, they’ll have to beat the Dodgers’ offer, whether that be in total dollars or the length of the deal. As David Gasper of Reviewing the Brew noted, Milwaukee could be offering Turner a similar contract structure to what they gave Wong, with two years and third-year club-option. They may also be trying to defer some of the money as well.

And take it as you will, but Spotrac has a projected average annual value for Turner of $13.9 million over two years on his next contract.

The Milwaukee Brewers have gone from being “still in play” for Turner to all of a sudden offering him a multi-year deal. After what was a very quiet offseason for several months, the addition of Wong and now potentially Turner would turn this offseason from a dud to a resounding success.