Chicago Cubs officially acquire Jacob Turner from Miami Marlins
Hitting up the Twitter timeline and saw this…
Pitchers Tyler Bremer and Jose Arias go to Marlins for Jacob Turner
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) August 8, 2014
The Marlins had DFA’d Jacob Turner and the Cubs placed a claim on him. Today, we get the official word that Turner will be heading for the Windy City, and the Cubs will send minor leaguers Jose Arias and Tyler Bremer to Miami.
The Cubs had to make room for Turner on the 40-man. The odd man out: Ryan Kalish as he was DFA’d. This is according to another Rogers tweet.
For Turner, he hasn’t lived up to the hype and expectations. The Detroit Tigers selected Tuner as the 9th overall pick in the 2009 draft. The hype machine kept a-comin’ as Turner was rated as a Baseball America top 100 prospect prior to the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons. He was never ranked lower than 26th (2010). His minor league numbers aren’t exactly shabby (21-19, 3.28 ERA, 1.178 WHIP in parts of 5 different seasons), so Turner did deserve mentions at some level.
Those numbers haven’t translated to the major league level. The Marlins acquired Turner as the centerpiece in the deal sending Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez to Detroit. That move didn’t work out as Turner’s numbers with the Marlins over parts of the past three seasons were 8-19 with a 4.41 ERA and 1.427 WHIP in 239 innings pitched.
The other day, CttP’s Patrick Green stated that even though the move to DFA Turner was justified, it would also prove to be a bad decision for the Marlins. Green also notes that Turner is still only 23 years of age.
That’s important to note for the following reason. The two pitchers the Marlins receive in return.
Bremer is 24 years old and has never pitched above Hi-A. His numbers are decent: 5-7, 3.27 ERA and 1.212 WHIP with 20 saves. He has appeared in a total of 69 games, all in relief.
Arias is 23 and has never hurled an inning over A-ball. His numbers show a record of 8-7 with and ERA of 3.32 and a WHIP of 1.221. He has appeared in 77 games and has gained a start in 38.
MLB Pipeline does not list either as a top 20 prospect within the Cubs farm system.