The Boston Red Sox entered the offseason with measured expectations after an offseason in which the front office and ownership overpromised and underdelivered.
The 40-35 club is playing its best baseball right now due to some young talent developing in front of our eyes, partly due to the lack of offseason additions clearing a path for the aforementioned players to flourish.
While the gamble by Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has paid off to some degree this season, there still were some players that fans would have loved to see a reunion with over the winter. At the top of that list was utility man/designated hitter Justin Turner. As has been reported for almost a year, the feelings were mutual.
Unfortunately, Breslow was against the idea of a pure DH in the everyday lineup — even though there still is one in Masataka Yoshida — and elected to move on.
“(Coming back to Boston) was a priority pretty much the whole offseason until I got a phone call saying that it’s not going to happen, to go look somewhere else and find another team that’s going to win a championship was really the messaging,” Turner told MassLive’s Chris Cotillo on the “Fenway Rundown” podcast.
“I was trying. I was wanting. I was holding out. I was waiting. I had a few conversations with Alex (Cora) throughout free agency. I think he was trying to get me back, but he was also the one who made the phone call and said ‘Hey man, don’t drag your feet anymore,’ which I appreciated a lot, the honesty and upfrontness, not trying to hold out and drag me along. That’s something that I respect greatly about him.”
Turner said the call from Cora came in late December or early January — which is when he shifted his focus to finding another potential contender to join. It’s notable that Cora wanted Turner back as he was likely just as frustrated as anyone when the lackluster offseason wrapped up. The highly esteemed manager is a free agent at the end of the year and will remember those conflicts when deciding to return or head elsewhere.
Turner hit .276 with 54 extra-base hits including 23 home runs, 96 RBIs and a .800 OPS (115 OPS+) in 146 games for Boston last season.
After a scorching hot start this season, he’s now slashing just .238/.331/.371 — creating a .702 OPS, 98 points below his 2023 campaign.
While Turner’s play and leadership warranted an extension, the Red Sox might have dodged a bullet with the 39-year-old’s drop in production. With that said, he’d likely have performed better to open the season playing at Fenway Park half of the time.
Turner will always be remembered as one of the best one-year wonders in Red Sox history.
