If all you did was look at the numbers you used to see on the backs of baseball cards, it would be easy to understand why the Marlins were frustrated enough with 23-year-old right-hander Jacob Turner to designate him for assignment.
| Season | W | L | ERA | G | GS | IP | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 4 | 7 | 5.97 | 20 | 12 | 78.1 | 54 | 23 | 8 |
| Career | 9 | 21 | 4.77 | 53 | 45 | 264 | 175 | 97 | 31 |
In 78.1 innings so far this year, Turner is 4-7 with a 5.97 ERA. In his career, he's 9-21 with a 4.77 ERA in 53 games (45 starts), totaling 264 innings. On Tuesday, Miami removed Turner from their 25 and 40-man rosters, and placed him on revocable waivers.
That means teams can put in a claim for Turner, in the hopes of nabbing a starter who was the key piece to the deal with Detroit that sent Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante back in July of 2012. The way waivers work, teams with the worst record in baseball (starting in the National League, because the Marlins are an NL team) get first crack at putting in a claim on Turner, and if they do, Miami can either choose to let Turner go to that team for free, work out a trade, or just put him back on the 25-man roster.
The Marlins have a ton of young pitching, which is perhaps one of the reasons they are letting him go. Jose Fernandez, Nathan Eovaldi, Henderson Alvarez, Jarred Cosart, Andrew Heany, Justin Nicolino and 2014 second-round pick Tyler Kolek are all young arms in the Miami organization that the team is probably higher on than Turner.
Turner is also out of options, meaning the team cannot send him back down to the minors. So a trade of Turner is more than likely.
The designation of Turner is interesting for several reasons. Here's why it's a puzzling move, and a look at some of the teams that would love to grab him.