The other day news broke that the Miami Marlins designated 2009 first round draft pick Jacob Turner for assignment. The Marlins acquired Turner in a trade which sent Anibal Sanchez to the Detroit Tigers in 2012. In his two full season of Major League ball, Turner has yet to really impress or show that he was worthy of being drafted ninth. Much like with Jake Arrieta, the Chicago Cubs likely see the talent bursting to come out, and likely believe that Chris Bosio will be able to unlock what the Tigers saw in him when they drafted him.
When word of Turner being DFA’d came out, the Cubs immediately came to mind as the most likely destination for him to continue his career. With news coming out that the Cubs were officially awarded the waiver claim, since he was put on revocable waivers, all that was left was to officially make a trade.
Because Turner is out of options, and is not injured, the Cubs must place him on the 25 man roster. This means that the Cubs must make another roster move, designating another player on the current 25 man roster for assignment.
Earlier, Nate Schierholtz was DFA’d in order to make room on both the 40 man and 25 man roster for Kyuji Fujikawa because Javier Baez took the last open 40 man roster spot Tuesday night. If the Cubs want to have Turner start for them, then either Kyle Hendricks or Tsuyoshi Wada would have to be sent back down. Losing either one would be painful as they have both been pitching well. Hendricks could be optioned back to the minors, but Wada would have to be DFA’d. That would clear a spot on both rosters for Turner.
Hopefully, neither one does get sent out. Turner could be used as a bullpen pitcher for the remainder of this season until the Cubs figure out what is wrong with him, which would mean a reliever would be optioned back to the minor leagues, maybe Chris Rusin; that would however leave the Cubs with only one left handed reliever in Wesley Wright. That, however, does not solve the problem of who on the 40 man roster would have to go to make room for him. Either Josh Vitters or Brett Jackson could be DFA’d to clear a spot on the 40 man roster for Turner.
The Cubs could also fulfill every Cub fans wish and DFA Edwin Jackson, though I see that as a huge long shot. All we know for sure is that the Cubs have officially traded for Turner and he will join the Cubs shortly.
Cubs acquire RHP Jacob Turner from Marlins for a couple of minor leaguers. Love this pickup for Chicago.
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) August 8, 2014
If Keith Law is right, we don’t have to worry too much as this was a low-risk, VERY HIGH reward trade:
Low A relievers. Not prospects. “@Hawkstrat: @keithlaw which ones?” — keithlaw (@keithlaw) August 8, 2014
Jesse Rogers with the return to Miami:
Pitchers Tyler Bremer and Jose Arias go to Marlins for Jacob Turner
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) August 8, 2014
Nothing to lose sleep over. Let’s see what happens with Turner but we should like this trade very much. To make room for Turner, Ryan Kalish was designated for assignment:
Jacob Turner added to 40 man, Ryan Kalish DFA — Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) August 8, 2014
Waiting to see who will be optioned as Turner needs an active roster spot, being out of options himself. Behind the Ivy tells me that nobody needs to be optioned until Turner reports to the club.
UPDATE 8/10 11:50 AM: We were waiting for the roster moves, and here we go:
#Cubs activate Ramirez from DL and add Turner. Rusin to Iowa. One more move to go
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) August 10, 2014
Still waiting for other #Cubs roster move. Renteria did confirm it would be a reliever — Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) August 10, 2014
#Cubs Turner: “I’m just excited to be here and think it’ll be a good opportunity to get a fresh start and just kind of regroup a little bit”
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) August 10, 2014
For #Cubs numbers geeks, Jacob Turner will wear No. 38 — Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) August 10, 2014
Best of luck to Turner, who we think will be in a long-reliever role for now until they fix him up this offseason, assuming they’ll keep him around (but why wouldn’t they?).
UPDATE 12:23 PM: Looks like Neil Ramirez is up, Chris Rusin down, Brian Schlitter drew the short straw (not an option though):
To sum up, Schlitter to DL, Rusin to @IowaCubs to make room for Ramirez and Turner in #Cubs pen
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) August 10, 2014
Schlitter’s 15 days will be up by 8/25, but that’s only a week from September when rosters expand, so this bit of gamesmanship might work out in the Cubs’ favor. Teams use nagging ailments all the time so this isn’t out of the ordinary, not to mention that Brian has already thrown like 50 innings.
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