Trade Targets: Spencer Turnbull makes sense for the Atlanta Braves
By James Kunkle
Only a few days away from the trade deadline, we look at another potential trade candidate for the Atlanta Braves.
Former University of Alabama pitcher Spencer Turnbull, who currently pitches for the Detroit Tigers has looked impressive in the early going of the 2020 season and would make sense for the Atlanta Braves to try and make a move on before next Monday’s deadline.
While they have played slightly better than projected so far, most are in agreement that it will still be a few years before the Detroit Tigers are back in contention, especially with the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox looking poised to run the AL Central for a few years to come.
Despite being under team control through 2025 and being cheap (making less than a million this year) Detroit might be willing to talk to the Atlanta Braves because Spencer Turnbull is only a few days away from being 28.
To add on to that, the Tigers have shown over the last 2 or 3 seasons that holding onto a pitcher during a rebuild could hurt the club long term. At this point, I am sure they are slightly regretting not moving Matthew Boyd or Michael Fulmer when both’s stock were higher than they currently are.
As we are prone to do a lot of times though, we simply look at a pitchers win-loss record and ERA for their stats. You cannot do that for Turnbull in his 2019 season.
Yes, his record was 3-17 but that is about as deceiving as it can get.
First, he had an MLB worst of 2.65 run support per game.
Second, he was on the Detroit Tigers who were obviously terrible last year and he had no support of any kind.
2020 has been a big improvement for not only his stats but also his actual pitching as well. Similar to his career numbers he is averaging just a tick under a strikeout per inning, and even though it is not fully indicative, it is still nice to see his ERA under 3 where it currently sits at 2.97.
Taking it a step farther, in almost 31 innings this year, he has yet to allow a home run.
But perhaps my favorite stat of them all is on July 31st, he won his first career home game start. It only took him two years.
Next. Perhaps another Tiger?. dark
Maybe the Atlanta Braves can swing a deal with the Tigers at the deadline like they did last year when they acquired Shane Greene.