The Seattle Mariners have acquired veteran batsman Justin Turner from the Toronto Blue Jays, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports. According to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, the Blue Jays will receive a Double-A outfielder RJ.Schreck in return for Turner.
Turner, 39, this season is batting .254/.349/.371 (106 OPS+) with six home runs and 39 walks in 347 plate appearances. Although Turner has primarily been a DH and first baseman this season, he’s not far removed from seeing regular time at third base and even occasionally manning second. The right-handed hitter remains quite productive in platoon-advantaged situations. For his career, Turner owns an OPS+ of 124 with a WAR of 37.1 across parts of 16 major-league seasons.
For this season, he’s owed the balance of the $13 million contract he signed with Toronto. He’ll be eligible for free agency this coming offseason.
On the other side, Schreck brings to the Jays organization a career slash line of .252/.379/.431 over parts of two minor-league seasons. He’s a former ninth-rounder out of Vanderbilt who’s spent most of his time in left field.
The disappointing Jays are continuing a “soft” sell-off that’s seeing them trade away walk-year veterans such as Turner and Danny Jansen. The Mariners, meantime, are trying to address a flagging offense, which has included adding Randy Arozarena earlier this week. Seattle is presently in a virtual tie with the Houston Astros at the top of the AL West standings.
