Justin Turner

[Edgy MD]

Last season: 109 games, 322 plate appearances, .340 / .404 / .493 // .897, 153 OPS+
This season: 69 games, 214 plate appearances, .314 / .388 / .565 // .953, 162 OPS+

As lousy as it is, we may need to accept that this may be for real, and he's the next in a line of limited-ranged white infielders (Kent, Wiggum, Fleppinger) the Mets seemingly moved too early and too cheaply.

I know. Who needs more bad news?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Fuck him. Everyone forgets how fat he got, leading to an injury and an inability to help us when we needed him. It's ironic but bench players have to commit to being in shape beyond what we might even expect of the everyday guys. If you're the kind of guy we need in a pinch, and you're not there in a pinch, you're worthless. This is a similar issue I'd had with Gee. You're near the bottom of the food chain you had better be there physically.

[Lefty Specialist]

Really. Turner never showed he was that fantastic with the Mets, and lord knows he had his chances.

[Edgy MD]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Fuck him. Everyone forgets how fat he got... .

Oh, I don't forget this at all. I was first in line to move the guy � absolutely (and coldly) philosophical that his DFA was for the best because he certainly had made himself an unattractive commodity on the market.

The guy had a habit of disappearing exactly when the team needed him. Rallied in September 2013 to get himself back to average, but he was consistently not answering the bell in April through August.

There's nothing a manager should crack down on faster than a guy on the fringe enjoying being a big leaguer too much (hello, Beardinhius). Casey felt this way, and so did Whitey.

[ashie62]

As a Met I thought of Turner as out of shape and indifferent.

That picture of him at Reckers wedding didn't help my impressions of Turner..

[Edgy MD]

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wow, his wife (or girlfriend, or sister, or whatever) is much better looking than he is.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, one minute feel like a queen bee when you lasso a big league ballplayer, and then you go to Anthony Recker's (!!) wedding with a puffy Justin Turner, and you're all, "Errr... um... ."

[Frayed Knot]

Highest batting average in MLB since opening day 2014 ... or so I heard somewhere a couple days ago though I don't claim to be able to independently confirm that veracity of that statement.

I remember being less down on Turner than some here but there's no way I saw anything resembling this on the horizon.
Backup infielders are like middle relievers, they go from good to bad to back again with seemingly no rhyme or reason and little way to predict when the next big shift is coming.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Turner looks like a smiling (albeit relatively tall) leprechaun in that picture.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, here's a picture from one of their early dates.

[fimg=500:24xg6ci8]http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/sexy-woman-leprechaun-13120508.jpg[/fimg:24xg6ci8]

[G-Fafif]

Step One: Get as far as one can from the Maverick who Revolutionized Baseball and Revived the Mets.

Of course, the gap from "decent utility guy" to No. 3 hitter is more a matter of yards than inches and Turner is at a loss to explain why his career has blossomed toward the end of his prime years. He dismisses the comfort factor of playing close to where he grew up in Long Beach. He doesn't think it has anything to do with getting out from under New York's media scrutiny or with not having to conform to the Mets' view of an ideal hitter. He does, however, acknowledge that his approach at the plate didn't always mesh with what general manager Sandy Alderson was looking for. "I mean, he came over from Oakland. He's a 'Moneyball' guy. I don't know if 'Looking to walk' is the right way of saying it, but he talks about on-base percentage." Turner said. "I'm never looking to walk. Sometimes when you miss pitches you should hit, you end up walking. I wasn't worried about on-base percentage or anything like that. I was just trying to have good at-bats."

[Frayed Knot]

And yet Turner's walk rates were always at least decent with the Mets and have barely changed at all since his move to L.A.
.061 [OBA - BA] w/the Mets over 895 PAs vs .067 w/Dodgers in 536 Pas to date -- that's essentially no difference at all and both figures are right around league average

What has changed are his BA & SLG to the point where the LA numbers don't even resemble the same person that played in NY: .330 / .552 -- vs -- .265 / .370