REPORT: Trea Turner Wanted To Play In Philly So Bad That He Turned Down Over $341 Million From An NL West Team
ESPN - As The Athletic first reported, the Phillies' 11-year, $300 million offer that landed Trea Turner was actually the second-highest offer on the table, behind the Padres'. But not only did San Diego outbid the Phillies, according to industry sources, their offer would've made Turner the highest-paid shortstop in baseball -- beyond the $341 million that Francisco Lindor got from the Mets, and that the Padres previously gave to Fernando Tatis Jr.
How about Trea Turner turning down tens of millions of dollars in order to play for the Phillies? We're not talking about a couple million. We're talking about Anthony Rizzo's career earnings as a Chicago Cub as the difference between playing in San Diego and moving to Philadelphia.
Quality of life - I've heard great things about San Diego. Recently I've been out to Philly a few times and really enjoyed myself. But more than Southern California with nearly half a billion dollars of career earnings to my name? Hard to argue in favor of the Delco folks but same time I'm not local. Maybe I'd make the same sacrifice to play at Wrigley?
Who knows. And I'm just as confused about the Padres source of money. Everywhere you look they're offering up hundreds of millions. Tatis here. Machado there. Musgrove and Darvish getting 40 something million. Meanwhile the Cubs are still talking about the Heyward deal from when you weren't even in high school. I mean give me a fuckin break already. The money's obviously there across MLB - just a matter of these billionaires growing the balls to spend it.
As for Trea Turner, this drastically advances his Philly legacy and it's been all of 24 hours since the deal go announced. Right away he's endearing himself to the Philly faithful. The whole lineup consists of fan favorites that you kinda have to be jealous of that team chemistry. Schwarber and Harper and Realmuto are all dogs. You got the homegrown boys in Stott and Hoskins and Bohm. Then mix in a guy like Trea Turner taking significantly less to be apart of it and you can't help but admire what's been built in Philadelphia. Truly and sincerely - I'm very jealous.
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