Justin Turner proved Mariners need his veteran presence back

One of the Seattle Mariners’ moves before the 2024 MLB trade deadline made an impact, even if it wasn’t enough to get the team back into the playoffs.

The change that would help Mariners’ bats? Pushing the fences back

Seattle’s trade with the Toronto Blue Jays for veteran first baseman Justin Turner looked good on the stat sheet, with the two-time All-Star providing 1.2 fWAR in just 48 games, slashing .264/.363/.403 at the plate for a .766 OPS.

Not bad for a guy who will turn 40 this month.

But where Turner really made his mark was behind the scenes, as Mariners insider Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports explained.

“Justin Turner had a very unique value to this team, and it was something that once it was there, it was seen and it was acknowledged – ‘This is something that we should have had from the start,'” Drayer said when she was a guest co-host on a recent edition of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob. “… It’s not just any veteran. There have been plenty of veterans in this clubhouse. Justin Turner is unique in that he will come in and he will talk the hitting – from Day 1.”

The reason this is worth bringing up is that Turner is now a free agent, and there’s no guarantee he will be back with the Mariners next year. Drayer thinks making sure he does come back should be a priority on their offseason to-do list, though.

“That’s a move that I’d like to see first. Like, let’s shore that up and take care of that,” she said.

The Mariners had an in-season addition that provided needed veteran leadership two years prior when first baseman Carlos Santana joined in a trade, and he was a big part of the team breaking a long drought and reaching the playoffs in 2022. Santana hit free agency that offseason and was quickly picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he has continued to be productive, even winning his first career Gold Glove this year with the Minnesota Twins.

Similar to Drayer, former Mariners pitcher Charlie Furbush, who was also guest co-hosting the show, stressed the importance of veterans like Turner and Santana for a team with a roster like Seattle has.

“You can’t rely on the coaching staff to have that (veteran influence),” Furbush said. “… It just holds so much more weight from a someone that’s still playing and someone that has been there and done it, and knows how the intricacies of a clubhouse work. And to be able to show up and lead by example – be able to, in a sense, call people out and and get people on the right track because you play so many games and it’s easy to kind of lose your way. If you have a veteran that has actually been through that and then came out of it and can help you get back to where you were, it allows everyone to be more free and play more open and ultimately try and be themselves.

“I think that’s the one thing we all (experience) as baseball players – we try to be better than we are, then we realize that we just need to be ourselves. It’s hard when you run into a couple of bad games or whatever, but seeing the veteran presence of how they handle it mentally is immensely strong and you can learn from it. It’s one of those things that you’re going to need a veteran player and you can’t really rely on the coaching staff to get this done inside the clubhouse.”

Drayer saw the impact of Turner and Santana both up close in covering the team, and detailed how their influences were both valuable while coming from different places.

“Santana had a good leadership, too. His was a little bit more overall with the entire group and setting a tone, and doing some things to help loosen them up,” Drayer said. “I think Turner was incredibly invested in individuals from the start, particularly on the hitting side, but you also heard some pitchers talk about him. A lot of it goes back to what Cal Raleigh said at the end of 2023 when he said, ‘We need guys that have been there and have done that.’ He wasn’t just asking for guys with big numbers or the big paycheck guys. He was asking for guys who have been there and guys that have done that, because they don’t have that example in the clubhouse.

“That’s the one thing – you can’t grow that kind of experience. You can grow the players and you can grow them together, and (the Mariners) have something very unique in that you do have a lot of core players that have come up together and gone through a lot together, but they don’t have that outside experience. They don’t have significant playoff experience. Turner brought that, and also a lot of players said that he was instrumental in what they were doing hitting-wise in September – Cal Raleigh being one of them who pointed to that and how important that was. So that’s not just any veteran.”

Another veteran option in free agency

While Turner and Santana, who are both currently free agents, already have track records of success with Seattle, there’s another available veteran first baseman that Furbush said to keep an eye.

“If Turner works out, great. I’d look at Anthony Rizzo – another adult in the room, high playoff experience,” he said.

Rizzo, 35, has 59 games of postseason experience, won a world title with the Chicago Cubs in 2016, and just played in another World Series last month with the New York Yankees. Rizzo slashed .228/.301/.335 for a .637 OPS with eight home runs and 12 doubles in 92 games last season.

“It’s I think a good fit and it’s not a long-term contract. It’s not a high annual contract. He’s towards the end of his career and brings a ton of experience inside that clubhouse,” Furbush said.

Hear the full conversation from last Friday’s edition of Wyman and Bob in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

More Seattle Mariners offseason coverage

• Mariners Free Agency: Why Christian Walker is the 1B Seattle should pursue
• Cal Raleigh becomes Mariners’ first Platinum Glove winner
• Mariners starting pitcher among MLB’s early arbitration qualifiers
• Free Agency Refresh: Players added to market Mariners could target
• Why Morosi calls Korean 2B a ‘fantastic’ target for Seattle Mariners

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