Top 5 Blue Jays storylines to monitor this spring training

Justin Turner’s role

When the Jays were looking for a power bat to inject some offense into their lineup for the upcoming season, they nabbed two-time All-Star and World Series champion Justin Turner from the free agent market. The wily veteran has proven to be both a consistent solid hitter and run producer throughout his 15-year career. More impressively, despite being 38 last year with the struggling Red Sox, he still showed he had lots of game left in him by posting very strong numbers with a .276 batting average, .800 OPS, 86 runs scored, 31 doubles, 23 home runs, and a career-high 96 RBI in 146 games played.

Given now that he has turned 39 entering the upcoming season with the Jays, many have already assumed that he will just take over full-time duties as the team’s designated hitter to replace Brandon Belt. However, Turner actually saw some time at first base, second base and third base last year in addition to his primary DH role. With the Jays not set on a firm starter at either second or third, Turner could perhaps provide some flexibility in being used in the field if needed to help with matchups against various opponents.

However, despite his positional versatility, the Jays should be wise on where to place Turner. That is because although he seemed fine last year when starting at first and second base, he was a huge liability in the field when playing at third as he committed 3 errors on just 19 chances in seven games for an .842 fielding percentage and a -3 DRS. So any starts at third can quickly become an eye sore for Jays’ fans if that indeed ends up happening.