The Blue Jays announced that they have reinstated right-hander Max Scherzer from the 60-day injured list. Fellow righty Spencer Turnbull has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet was among those to pass it along.
Turnbull, 32, was a notable free agent this offseason. He had a good season with the Phillies last year on a rate basis, posting a 2.65 earned run average over 54 1/3 innings in a swing role. His 26.1% strikeout rate and 47.5% ground ball rate were a few ticks above average with a 9% walk rate that was right around par. His workload was limited both by the Phils shuttling him between the rotation and bullpen, as well as a lat strain that kept him on the IL for most of the second half.
Despite the solid numbers, he lingered unsigned into the season. The Blue Jays had lost Scherzer to the IL after just one start and made various attempts to replace him in the rotation, giving chances to guys like Easton Lucas, José Ureña, Paxton Schultz and Eric Lauer.
They added Turnbull into the mix by signing him in early May, technically on a $1,265,306 salary but it was prorated to an even $1MM since some of the season was already in the books. Since he missed all of spring training, he agreed to be optioned to the minors to build up, though with a 35-day limit before he needed to be called up.
On that optional assignment, he seemed to struggle to get his velocity up. He averaged less than 90 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball in his Triple-A outings, despite being at 92 mph last year and in the 93-94 mph range in his previous big league seasons. Regardless, with their 35-day window closing, the Jays called him up in mid-June.
His first two outings were in relief and were reasonable enough. He started with two shutout frames against the Cardinals on June 11th, then allowed one run over 2 1/3 innings against the Phillies on the 15th, averaging around 91 mph in those outings. The Jays gave him a start against the White Sox on Friday, which did not go well. His four-seamer averaged 90.3 mph as he allowed four earned runs in two innings. He now sports a 7.11 ERA in his small sample of work this year, with his strikeout and walk rates matching at 12.1%, a subpar number in both cases.
While Turnbull has struggled to get into a good groove, other pitchers have outperformed him. Lauer, signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, has a 2.21 ERA in 40 2/3 innings for the Jays this year. There’s certainly some luck in there but his 25.5% strikeout rate is strong and his 8.7% walk rate around average. The Jays could have kicked Turnbull into a long relief role but Schultz has a 3.80 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 41.7% ground ball rate. He also has options, meaning the Jays have some freedom to shuttle him to Triple-A when they want a fresh arm.
With Scherzer’s return, he will join Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt in the rotation. Bowden Francis landed on the IL about a week ago due to a shoulder impingement but Lauer has seemingly taken over that spot.
Put it all together and Turnbull heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, meaning the Jays can take as long as five days to explore trade interest. Given his form so far this year and his salary, teams might wait for him to hit the open market. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping his salary in tact. It’s possible the Jays skip the formality and simply release him.
If that comes to pass, teams would be able to sign him and only pay him the prorated league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from Toronto’s commitment. That could be an attractive flier for some clubs, given Turnbull’s past work. As mentioned, he had decent results as recently as last year. From 2019 to 2021 with the Tigers, he posted a 4.13 ERA in 255 innings with a 21.9% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate. He missed 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery and struggled in 2023 but bounced back with the Phils last year. His 2025 hasn’t been amazing so far but it’s also followed an unusual trajectory.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
