Justin Turner, Dodgers agree to terms on four-year, $64 million contract.

Justin Turner

Justin Turner will remain a Dodger until he’s 35 under the terms of a four-year, $64 million contract pending a physical. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff photographer)


The Dodgers and third baseman Justin Turner have agreed on the terms of a four-year, $64 million contract. Previous reports Sunday and Monday indicated the two sides were close; the deal is now pending a physical.

The Jansen and Turner agreements would mean the Dodgers went 3 for 3 in their top offseason priorities by re-signing Rich Hill and closer Kenley Jansen as well – an unexpected but highly successful outcome to the winter regardless of how they work out their remaining issues at second base and in the bullpen. It also would mean a combined total of $192 million in new salary commitments for a team hoping to bring payroll down. That payroll is expected to be in the neighborhood of $250 million next season, well over the luxury-tax threshold for a fifth consecutive season.

The Dodgers will need to clear one spot on their 40-man roster for Turner and Jansen, who agreed to terms on a five-year, $80 million contract Monday.

Ten things I learned in the 2017 Bill James Handbook.

Bill  James Handbook 2017The 2017 Bill James Handbook is on shelves now. It’s 609 pages of facts, figures and other quantitative observations from the most recent baseball season. I’m always amazed at how quickly anyone can publish such massive amounts of data, let alone sort them and analyze them into something digestable.

Between tracking down Kenley Jansen contract details, I attempted to make the BJH even more digestable for Dodger fans. Here are 10 things that either I didn’t know, or didn’t know with nearly the same precision, before reading the book:

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Dodgers, Justin Turner reportedly close on a four-year contract.

Justin Turner Dodgers

Justin Turner could become the second free agent to re-sign with the Dodgers this week. (Keith Birmingham/Staff photographer)

The Dodgers are close to re-signing third baseman Justin Turner to a four-year contract, first reported by Chris Camello of the Rebel Media Group on Sunday and confirmed in multiple reports Monday. According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the contract will pay an average annual value of $16 million, with deferred money possibly pushing the total value beyond $64 million.

Turner, 32, is coming off a career year in which he played 151 games, hit 27 home runs, drove in 90 runs and finished ninth in National League MVP voting. The Long Beach native and former Cal State Fullerton standout was also a finalist for a Gold Glove Award in his first full season at third base.

Coincidentally, Turner attended teammate Kenley Jansen‘s wedding over the weekend in Curaçao. Jansen and the Dodgers agreed to a five-year, $80 million contract Monday, pending a physical.

 

Wade Davis and Aroldis Chapman are off the market. What’s next for Kenley Jansen and the Dodgers?

Kenley Jansen

Kenley Jansen remains unsigned going into the final day of the Winter Meetings. (John McCoy/Staff photographer)

And then there was one.

On the same day closer Wade Davis was traded to the Chicago Cubs, the New York Yankees were reportedly finalizing a five-year, $86 million contract with Aroldis Chapman. With Davis and Chapman’s fate settled, Kenley Jansen remains baseball’s last premier closer whose 2017 address is unsettled.

Here’s where things stand with Jansen and the Dodgers:

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Kenley Jansen and Justin Turner receive qualifying offers from Dodgers.

Kenley Jansen Justin Turner

Pitcher Kenley Jansen, center, and third baseman Justin Turner, left, were the only free agents given qualifying offers by the Dodgers on Monday. (Stephen Carr/Staff photographer)


Free agent third baseman Justin Turner and closer Kenley Jansen each received a qualifying offer Monday from the Dodgers, a one-year, $17.2 million contract that players historically reject.

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