Roughly five years ago, the Mets released Justin Turner. Since then, the infielder has found a home in Los Angeles, as he has been a vital piece of the Dodgers' success in recent years.
Turner joined WFAN’s Carlin, Maggie and Bart on Friday to discuss his short offseason after making the World Series, the looming matchup against Jacob deGrom this weekend, and his unexpected departure from the Mets in 2013.
"At the end of every year, most guys take two, three, maybe four weeks off before they get back into it and playing that deep in the playoffs, going to Game 7 of the World Series, you couldn’t afford to take that time off,” Turner said. “You had to get right back in the gym. I think most of us were back in the stadium the next week working out with our strength coach, Brandon McDaniel, trying to get ready for the upcoming season.”
The former Met spoke about the opportunity to face Jacob deGrom, who is set to start on Saturday night against the Dodgers.
“I love facing Jake. I had a little bit of time with the Mets with him. I knew who he was, he wasn’t quite up yet but we knew he was coming,” Turner said. “I knew Jake a little bit and facing him in the past was always fun. We kind of had a little thing where he and I had long hair so we would joke about that a little bit, but he cut that off now so I think I have an advantage.
“If he throws you a mistake, don’t miss it...You just gotta try to be ready, try to stay in the zone on him and if he makes a mistake, like I said, just try not to miss it. Usually if you miss a mistake, he’s not going to give you another one. He’s tough but I think we are all looking forward to the challenge on Saturday.”
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The Mets cut Turner back in 2013 and he shed light on how the move has motivated him to improve and why he thinks the team released him.
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“It absolutely puts a chip on your shoulder. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth and as hard as you try to say it’s just another series, it doesn’t really matter, it was four or five years ago, you still want to come back and play good, perform, and let them know that they made a mistake.
“I heard that I didn’t hustle and that was a shocker to me. I thought I played the game pretty hard and went about it the right way. So, I was a little offended by that because that’s something I take pride in, trying to play the game the right way and being a good teammate I think are the two most important things that you can do as an athlete,” Turner said. “That felt like a personal attack on my character and I didn’t like that one too much.”
Turner and the Dodgers will be at Citi Field this weekend for a three-game series with the Mets.