Although the deal was done a week ago, on Friday morning, the Dodgers officially announced the re-signing of 36-year-old free-agent third baseman Justin Turner to a two-year/$34 million contract, with a team option for a third year (or a $2 million buyout) that includes an $8 million signing bonus. The deal also includes performance bonuses for an additional $20 million if he finishes first through 10th in the 2022 MVP voting and $17.5 million if he finishes 11th-15th.

To make room for Turner on their roster, the Dodgers placed left-hander Caleb Ferguson on the 60-day IL, as he recovers from September 23, 2020, Tommy John surgery, his second such surgery.

During his (re-)introductory Zoom press conference on Friday morning, the Long Beach, CA native and seventh-round in 2006 by the New York Mets out of Cal State Fullerton told reporters that rejoining the team he grew up watching was very special to him.

“L.A. and the Dodgers hold a pretty big spot in my heart,” Turner said. “I’ve spent the last seven years here, making a ton of memories. Really seeing, you know, my career kind of turn around and take off, and it’s a place that’s always been special to me. Going into the offseason and through this free-agency process, it’s something that obviously never left my mind.”

He also told reporters just how special Dodger fans are to him and his wife, Kortney.

“Honestly, the fans all offseason have been reaching out through social media, encouraging me to come back, expressing their desire for me to come back,” Turner said. “The support’s been unbelievably overwhelming. My wife and I take our dogs on walks through the neighborhood every night, and there are people on the streets yelling, ‘You’ve got to sign back, you’ve got to come back.’ When it all got finalized, I guess today it’s official, but when we announced it Saturday, just the overwhelming response from the best fans in all of baseball was par for the course, and that’s why I love them so much.”

Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman acknowledged that although he felt confident that they would re-sign Turner, there were moments when he wasn’t so sure.

“I think the longer it goes, it just increases the chances of different things playing out,” Friedman told reporters via Zoom on Friday. “But from our standpoint, we felt confident that in an ideal world he wanted to come back. From our perspective, in an ideal world, we wanted him back. I think that always helped that soothe those concerns.

“But there were definitely days where I was concerned and other days I felt more optimistic,” Friedman added. “We stayed in close communication, and from our standpoint, nothing ever got close enough where we had to go and put that to them that, ‘Hey, in the next day or two we need a resolution.’ We never got to that point, so we were able to let them let it play out and react when they were ready to fully engage.”

Turner appeared in 42 games with the Dodgers in 2020, posting a .307 batting average (46-for-50) with four home runs, nine doubles, and 23 RBI. He hit .350 (14-for-40) with runners in scoring position and .369 (24-for-65) with runners on base. He appeared in all 18 postseason games for the Dodgers in 2020, recording 17 hits, three home runs, and six RBI to lead the Dodgers to their first World Championship since 1988. He recorded his 1,000th-career hit on August 11 and is the Dodgers all-time postseason leader in games (72), at-bats (268), runs (40), hits (79), home runs (12), doubles (19), and RBI (41).

Turner brings a 13-year career slash line of .292/.369/.469/.838 with 124 home runs and 495 RBI into the 2021 season. The Dodgers initially acquired him as a non-roster free agent on February 6, 2014. In his seven seasons with the Dodgers, he is 809-for-2676 (.302) with 116 home runs and 406 RBI in 795 games.

Welcome back, JT!

Play Ball!

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