The Blue Jays sign designated hitter Justin Turner

According to Steve Adams of mlbtraderumors.comThe Toronto Blue Jays signed designated hitter Justin Turner from Long Beach, California on Tuesday. The contract term is one year and amounts to $13 million. The Blue Jays are the fifth Major League Baseball team Turner has played for. He previously spent time with the Baltimore Orioles from 2009 to 2010, the New York Mets from 2010 to 2013, the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2014 to 2022 and the Boston Red Sox in 2023.

Last season with the Red Sox, Turner hit .276 with 23 home runs and 29 runs batted in. In 146 games, including 558 at bats and 626 plate appearances, he scored 86 runs and had 154 hits, 31 doubles, four stolen bases, 51 walks, 254 total bases and six sacrifice flies, along with an on-base percentage of .345 and a slugging percentage of .455.

Turner was a two-time All-Star with the Dodgers. The first came in 2017, when he batted .322 with 21 home runs and 71 runs batted in. The second time came in 2021, when he batted .278 with 27 home runs and 87 runs batted in. During the postseason, Turner was named Most Valuable Player of the National League Championship Series in 2017 with the Dodgers and won a World Series with the Dodgers in 2020.

It now appears that Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins is done making key signings for the Blue Jays in the offseason. When assessing his performance, one word comes to mind. This is incomplete. Atkins was hired to help improve the Blue Jays offensively after they played in the American League Wildcard Series against the Minnesota Twins, where, as expected, they scored just one run in 18 innings. The bottom line is that Atkins didn’t do enough. The first four batters in the Jays’ lineup (George Springer, Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Turner) are solid, but after that there is a gigantic drop-off between five and eight. Danny Jansen and Cavan Biggio can show flashes, while Daulton Varsho and Isiah Kiner-Falefa give Toronto no offensive power at all. Kevin Kiermaier should now be in fifth place and not ninth.