PHILS WERE OUTBID FOR TURNER BY PADS — THEY GOT HIM ANYWAY!
By Peter Marx
The Phillies made the biggest splash of the offseason, signing an 11-year deal with Trea Turner, making the two-time All-Star the 10th player in MLB history to land a contract worth at least $300 million.
And the 11-year, $300 million deal apparently wasn’t the highest offer on the table.
Matt Gelb of the Athletic reports the Padres made an offer which topped the one Turner accepted from Philadelphia.
Specifics of the proposal aren’t clear, but Gelb reports that the gap was wide enough that San Diego’s offer would’ve translated into more money even after adjusting for California’s higher state income tax rate than Pennsylvania’s.
In the months leading up to Turner’s free agency, there was a fair bit of speculation about whether geography would play a role in his decision.
He’s a Florida native who went to college at North Carolina State. His wife Kristen is from New Jersey. Turner reportedly expressed a desire to remain on the East Coast when the Nationals traded him to the Dodgers at the 2021 deadline, and while he downplayed geographic preferences in free agency, there seems to have been some truth behind the rumblings he could prefer heading back across the country. Turner also rejoins longtime Washington teammate Bryce Harper and hitting coach Kevin Long in Philadelphia.
