The Blue Jays and Spencer Turnbull have agreed to a significant league contract, as reported by Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi. The best-hander went unsigned over the offseason after spending the 2024 marketing campaign with the Phillies. His deal is pending a bodily.
Turnbull, 32, acquired off to a terrific begin final season after signing a one-year, $2MM contract with Philadelphia. By six April begins filling in for an injured Taijuan Walker, he pitched to a 1.67 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings of labor. Whereas nobody would have anticipated Turnbull to take care of a sub-2.00 ERA, all of his underlying numbers had been promising, together with a 49.4% groundball fee, a 20.5% Ok-BB%, and a 3.37 SIERA. Nonetheless, in Might, he moved into the bullpen, the place he didn’t look fairly as sharp. He gave up 9 runs in 19 innings over his subsequent 10 appearances. His strikeout and groundball charges declined, and his stroll fee rose. His ERA jumped to 4.26, whereas his SIERA climbed to three.80. In fact, these had been nonetheless completely respectable numbers for an extended reliever, and certainly, Turnbull pitched properly sufficient to be reinstated within the beginning rotation when Ranger Suárez suffered an damage. Sadly, his subsequent stint as a starter could be short-lived. Turnbull exited early from his first begin again within the rotation, by no means to return. He went on the injured record with a lat pressure that in the end ended his season.
All instructed, Turnbull completed the 2024 season with a 2.65 ERA and a 3.67 SIERA in 54 1/3 innings. That efficiency, alongside together with his general strong profession numbers when wholesome (4.28 ERA, 3.81 FIP in 67 profession begins), was sufficient to earn him the ultimate spot on MLBTR’s Prime 50 Free Brokers record this previous offseason. But, his checkered damage historical past, and due to this fact his restricted observe document, had been evidently sufficient to scare off groups from pursuing him. He was not credibly linked to any suitors this winter.
Extra to come back…
