If you can’t beat them…sign them several years later

Trivia Time: who was the last MVP in an NLCS that the Chicago Cubs lost, but was not signed by the Cubs later in his career. I would have guessed Josh Beckett in 2003, but Ivan Rodriguez was actually the MVP of that ill-fated series. And that’s not even the answer. Chris Taylor was co-MVP of the 2017 NLCS.

This is all a prelude to talking about the signing of Justin Turner, who was the other co-MVP along with Taylor. He scorched the Cubs for an 1.145 OPS in 5 games, including 2 home runs, 7 RBIs, and a 3-run walkoff in game 2 off John Lackey that seemed to take the wind out of the Cubs’ sails that season.

The other NLCS MVP the Cubs later signed was Daniel Murphy in 2015. He was unreal, hitting 4 homers in the 4-game sweep, with an OPS of 1.850. He did hit a respectable .800 OPS with a 0.5 WAR in 35 games with the Cubs at the end of 2018, but his defense was not good. It’s hard to imagine a 95-win season being disappointing, but losses in a 2 1-game playoffs left a very sour taste for Cubs’ fans that year.

Defense is also something where very little is expected from the 40-year-old Turner. His days of regular time at third base are over. But, I think the expectations are to give the Cubs a solid bat off the bench who can spell Michael Busch at 1st and play a little DH. If he plays more than a handful of games at third, it will be very bad news regarding Matt Shaw.

The crunch for roster spots going into the season does tighten up with this move. If Nico Hoerner is ready for the start of the season, 10 spots seems locked down (Happ, PCA, Tucker, Suzuki, Shaw, Swanson, Hoerner, Busch, Amaya and Kelly). That leaves ony 3 more bench spots open with competition from Turner, Canario, Berti, Brujan and Workman as the players most like to be among those 3. It also raises the question of who gets dumped from the 40-man roster. Although, now that players can get added to the 60-day IL, we might see someone like Luke Little placed there to open the spot for Turner.

After the disappointment of losing out on Alex Bregman, and the revelations about the Cubs’ lack of spending, this signing is not very exciting. But it does fill a need that should improve the bench, and allow Michael Busch to have a day off against a tough lefty. I would not be shocked to see the Cubs get one more relief arm, but I would not expect any more big moves before the games in Japan.