The 2025 season was a tough one for two-time All-Star
Justin Turner, who batted just .219/.288/.314 in 191 plate appearances with the Cubs. Between that rough showing and Turner’s looming 41st birthday later this month, some have wondered whether he’ll continue playing. Agent Greg Genske of Vayner Sports
tells Jon Morosi of MLB Network that Turner indeed is intent on playing in what would be his 18th major league season in 2026.
The 2025 season was the first below-average season Turner has had at the plate since establishing himself as a big league regular. He hit .259/.354/.384 between Boston and Seattle in 2024 and was 16% better than average at the plate in both ’23 and ’24, by measure of wRC+. This year’s downturn in production was steep, but it came in a relatively minimal sample and wasn’t accompanied by a glaring uptick in punchouts Turner’s strikeout rate did climb from 17.6% to 19.4%, but his contact rate — specifically his contact rate on balls within the strike zone — was largely unchanged.
Virtually all of Turner’s struggles in 2025 came against right-handed pitching. He tallied 109 plate appearances versus lefties and delivered a solid .276/.330/.429 batting line (112 wRC+). Against right-handed opponents, he was one of the worst hitters in MLB: .141/.232/.155 in 82 plate appearances (a gruesome 16 wRC+). At least some of that is attributable to a .179 BABIP against righties, though his struggles can’t be blamed solely on poor fortune. Turner’s 39.7% ground-ball rate was his highest since 2014, and he posted career-worst marks in pop-up rate, line-drive rate and hard-hit rate.
Based on Turner’s age and last year’s lack of production, anything more than a modest one-year deal seems unreasonable. Turner’s one-year deal with the Cubs paid him a guaranteed $6MM, and he’ll almost certainly need to take a pay cut on that sum. Last year’s struggles will make a club reluctant to offer him regular at-bats, but a team with payroll concerns and a left-handed option at first base/DH could view him as an affordable veteran roll of the dice who brings plenty of clubhouse benefits to the fold. Clubs like the Padres (
Gavin Sheets), Rangers (
Joc Pederson), Guardians (
Kyle Manzardo,
C.J. Kayfus) and Royals (
Vinnie Pasquantino) all have lefty-hitting first base and/or designated hitter options that struggled against southpaws in 2025.
