Prior to Trea Turner being traded last week, many Nationals fans were hopeful that Washington could work out a long-term contract extension with the All-Star shortstop.
Like Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon before him, Turner's exit from Washington — via his surprising trade to the Dodgers — dashed those hopes, halting them in their tracks more than a year sooner than expected.
Turner is now under Dodgers team control through the end of the 2022 season (although sidelined by Covid, he hasn't officially joined his new team).
That wasn't for a lack of trying on the Nationals' part. They had made attempts to reach a new deal with Turner, although those were obviously uneventful.
Prior to Turner being traded last week, Nats GM Mike Rizzo confirmed to The Sports Junkies that the Nationals had been in conversation with Turner on a possible extension "for the last couple of spring trainings," knocking down a Peter Gammons report that Nats ownership had "no long-term plans for Turner."
And now there's at least some validity to that coming from outside their building, with MLB Insider Jon Heyman reporting the Nats last made an offer to Turner prior to the pandemic-shortened season. Per Heyman, Washington offered Turner a six-year, approx. $100 million extension in March 2020.
If March 2020 serves as their final offer, Turner's production has since exploded, setting him up for a monster payday from someone when he does hit free agency in 2022. In a 155-game span (nearly a full season's worth) since the start of 2020, Turner's hitting .327 (.924 OPS) with seven triples, 32 doubles, 30 homers, 90 RBI and 33 stolen bases.
He will undoubtedly exceed that reported six-year offer, which comes in at an average annual value of $16.66 million.
But it's also important to view this through the context of March 2020. At the time of this reported offer to Turner, Xander Bogaerts ($20 million) and Francisco Lindor ($17.5 million) were the only shortstops with average salaries totaling more than $16 million. That was after Bogaerts signed a six-year extension with Boston a year earlier, in April 2019.
It wasn't until the following spring that the shortstop market would be obliterated, when Fernando Tatis Jr. signed a 14-year, $340 megadeal with San Diego ($24.28 million AAV) in Feb. 2021, and Lindor signed a 10-year, $341 million extension with the Mets ($34.1 million AAV) a month later.
So, by today's standards, 6 years/$100 million = not the best offer! But, at the time it was made, it would have made Turner the third-highest paid shortstop in Major League Baseball.
