Dodgers will see familiar face on Opening Day as former fan favorite lands with Cubs

The Cubs, after stumbling a bit out the gate, have put together a nice offseason. For a second there, it looked like they might be stuck with a Cardinals/Nolan Arenado-esque situation with former LA Dodgers star Cody Bellinger, but they managed to offload some of his contract by dealing him to the Yankees and have been one of the most active teams on both the free agent and trade markets since then.

Getting Kyle Tucker from the Astros was the big headliner, but they also made another deal with Houston to add Ryan Pressly, signed Matthew Boyd and Jon Berti, and dealt with the Dodgers to get Ryan Brasier after an LA roster crunch. And that's just some of the additions they've made.

On Tuesday, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reported that they were close to making one more. Former Dodger Justin Turner, going into his age-40 season, is close to finalizing a one-year, $6 million deal with the Cubs. He'll join fellow former Dodgers Brasier and Michael Busch in Chicago, all of whom will see LA in almost exactly a month for the Tokyo Series.

Former Dodgers fan favorite Justin Turner signs with the Cubs for his 17th MLB season

This signing makes Turner the fourth oldest active player in 2025, after Justin Verlander, Charlie Morton, and Max Scherzer. Those three signed one-year deals with the Giants, Orioles, and Blue Jays this offseason. Although it would've made some sense for Turner to retire after the 2024 season, when he split time between the Blue Jays and Mariners and had one of his worst years since 2014, he expressed no desire to leave the game and stayed out there on the market. He also finished 2024 on a strong note.

The Cubs needed a pivot after losing Alex Bregman to the Red Sox; Chicago had the weakest offer of any of the three final teams in Bregman's deliberations (four years, $115 million to the Red Sox's three and $120 million and the Tigers' six and $171.5 million). Turner, who will get $6 million, is certainly a bargain replacement.

Wrigley isn't exactly known for being a hitter-friendly park, but Turner actually hit better at T-Mobile, Statcast's least hitter-friendly stadium, with the Mariners last year than Rogers Centre with the Blue Jays.

Turner wants to go out on a high note, and the Cubs could be the team that gets him there after their pretty great offseason. The Tokyo Series could be a very early sneak preview into the postseason if all of these moves work out for Chicago.