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Justin Turner has extended his run in Los Angeles, or as he put it, “I’m back in Dodger blue like I was supposed to be,” after finalizing his two-year, $34 million contract on Friday.
The two-year deal for Turner, along with the structure of Trevor Bauer’s unique contract, plus recent arbitration-avoiding pacts with Walker Buehler and Austin Barnes, the Dodgers set themselves up for essentially a two-year window, with only a small yet crucial number of decisions to be made after the 2021 season.
On this episode we also talk about the stunning 14-year contract for Fernando Tatis Jr. and how the Padres have set themselves up very nicely to compete with the Dodgers for the next few years. Plus we talk competitive balance tax, recap several of our offseason wagers, and perhaps most importantly, build our ideal breakfasts.
Please send all of your questions to tblapodcast@gmail.com, or tweet us at @ericstephen or @jacobburch. Thanks as always to producer Brian Salvatore for his yeoman’s work to make us sound presentable.
Dodgers rewind
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With Turner third in Dodgers history in starts at third base and fourth in the franchise in games at the position, we look back at Billy Cox, whose 663 games and 612 starts at the hot corner from 1948-54 with Brooklyn both rank fifth in team history.
Cox was a shortstop in Pittsburgh but with Pee Wee Reese entrenched at the position in Brooklyn, Cox shifted to third base, where his defense was roundly praised. After the sure-handed defender was traded away in December 1954, team owner Walter O’Malley said, “We regard Cox as the greatest glove man we ever had,” per Claire Hall’s SABR bio of Cox.
Cox was traded to the Dodgers in 1947 along with Preacher Roe, and the pair were sent away in the same trade seven years later, this time to Baltimore, the latter a move that created roster space for the Dodgers to sign bonus baby Sandy Koufax one day later.
Cox played in three World Series for the Dodgers (1949, 1952, 1953), hitting .302/.351/.453 in 15 games.
Podcast links
Episode link (time: 1:22:42)