Should Teams Be Aiming to Get Jacob Turner?
Who Might Be Interested?
In August, priority for a player who is placed on waivers is given to teams in the player's league. Because Turner is a Marlin, that means National League teams get first crack at him, in reverse order of the standings.
Right now, the order looks like this.
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Chicago Cubs
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. Philadelphia Phillies
5. San Diego Padres
And you can probably stop the list right there, because it's highly doubtful Turner makes it past Philadelphia. In fact, it's entirely possible any, if not all, of those teams will put in a claim for him.
The best landing spot for Turner is probably in Chicago, where pitching coach Chris Bosio has made a habit out of turning around struggling pitchers. As I wrote about last week when the Cubs traded for Felix Doubront, they have turned around starters like Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel, Scott Feldman, Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm and Travis Wood in the past.
But virtually all the teams on that list have had pitching problems, especially in their starting rotation (MLB rank in paranthesis).
| Team | ERA | FIP | WHIP | K/BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 5.05 (29) | 4.66 (29) | 1.46 (29) | 1.83 (30) |
| Chicago | 3.98 (20) | 3.46 (T-2) | 1.31 (T-19) | 2.72 (15) |
| Arizona | 4.56 (27) | 4.14 (T-25) | 1.37 (25) | 2.79 (11) |
| Philadelphia | 3.94 (18) | 3.95 (18) | 1.31 (T-19) | 2.36 (23) |
| San Diego | 3.46 (8) | 3.58 (9) | 1.25 (T-10) | 2.63 (17) |
As you can see from that table, Colorado's starting rotation is a disaster and needs all the help it can get. Chicago's starters have pitched better than their ERA would indicate, but as mentioned above, they would be the perfect team to take a chance on Turner, if the Padres pass. If he somehow manages to fall to Arizona or Philadelphia, it's very likely one of those teams would make a trade for him, given the lack of pitching depth both on their big league rosters and in their farm systems.
Whatever team claims him and attempts to trade for him probably won't have to give up much. And Turner is under team control through 2019, another plus for any general manager will to roll the dice.
Is Jacob Turner the "answer" to anything? Certainly not right now. But he's still a young pitcher with a good arm whose secondary numbers offer promise that improvements could be coming.
