Dodgers: MLB insider explains Justin Turner’s four-year contract ask

Ken Rosenthal explained why Justin Turner is asking the Dodgers for four years.

Four years? I’m sorry, did we hear that right? Because we were confident the Dodgers and Justin Turner were in accordance on three, if not in agreement on the exact dollar figures.

According to Ken Rosenthal, that sudden rift you’re feeling is legitimate, though, and Turner really is asking around for a president’s term worth of security, while Los Angeles may or may not be content to offer two — even as the veteran looms as their top priority to fill the third base slot.

As these discussions drag on, though, Kris Bryant and Eugenio Suarez both say hello.

So, what changed? Were earlier reports a tick off? Has Turner adjusted his expectations based on an entirely stagnant offseason? That seems unlikely.

Rosenthal has the inside scoop on why the request is legitimate, and it turns out the 36-year-old’s camp has some good talking points that range beyond, “This is what Ben Zobrist got!”

Turner is acknowledging, according to his camp, the likelihood that a universal DH is instituted in the National League for the final three years of a hypothetical four-year deal; therefore, any interested team in either league can get his non-regressing bat without having to worry about his third base play.

It is tempting.

The piece also acknowledges that this ask might not result in four years’ worth of security, but could bring a team to offer three years to the Dodgers’ two, which would probably be pretty satisfying in the end anyway.

Who could do that? Rosenthal posits that it’d have to be a contender, and lists…only the Blue Jays…a team that’s been in on every single viable free agent in the league, from George Springer to DJ LeMahieu.

Could they offer Turner three years of security, knowing full well he might be a perma-DH by Year 2? Who knows.

But the Dodgers should treat Toronto like a viable threat to surpass them, and possibly the only one.

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