The clock has not yet struck midnight in Justin Turner’s fairy tale.
The story of the twice-discarded utility man who reached unexpected stardom with his hometown team couldn’t end now, not like that, so the 36-year-old third baseman and World Series champion agreed to extend a relationship that symbolized rebirth of one of baseball’s signature franchises.
For at least two more seasons, the pumpkin will remain a carriage, the mice will remain horses and the rags will remain a jeweled dress.
Turner will remain a Dodger.
The deal made a lot of sense for both sides not to happen.
Turner, who was raised in Lakewood, stays at home and plays what will likely be the rest of his career in front of fans who love him. The Dodgers, who have become known for constantly changing their list, keep one of their players more identifiable and reliable.
Turner had 0.302 hits with 116 home runs and 406 runs driven over his seven seasons with the Dodgers, but his value goes beyond the numbers.
He is a leader the Dodgers lacked for a generation, perhaps two, his voice transcending the cultural and generational boundaries that normally divide teams into groups. Your presence could be particularly valuable this year, as the Dodgers are introducing into your club a potential, if not likely, irritating one in Trevor Bauer. In his introductory press conference, Bauer mentioned Turner as one of the players who spoke to him about the organization.
The two-year, $ 34 million contract, which is pending physical examination, is shorter than what Turner was looking for in the open market.
Although the Dodgers have not moved over the years, they will pay him an average of $ 17 million a year, which is $ 1 million more than they paid under their previous four-year contract.
Turner’s salary raises the Dodgers to a luxury tax category, which will result in his first choice in the next draft, dropping 10 positions.
It does not matter.
Turner is worth it.
He also deserved better than having his days with the Dodgers ending in controversy.
He had to be removed from the World Series’ sixth deciding game before the eighth inning because of a positive COVID-19 test. He was quarantined for the rest of the game, but reappeared on the pitch after the Dodgers won the championship.
His celebration in the field, especially in the company of cancer survivor Dave Roberts, made him the reluctant subject of national history. Major League Baseball launched an investigation in which Turner decided to ignore the protocols.
Turner later apologized.
Regardless of how other parts of the country saw the incident, Turner remained a hero in Los Angeles.
Here, the question of whether he would return overshadowed all the other Dodger plots this winter, including the possibility of landing in Bauer, the current National League Cy Young Prize winner.
And rightly so.
The Dodgers honor military veterans at all home games. Turner is always nervous on the bench, waiting to shake his hands and hand them autographed baseballs.
Its foundation benefited everyone, from the homeless to children with cancer and paralyzed veterans. He supports his companions’ charitable efforts as well.
In the field, he not only got it right, he got it right on time.
Between the Dodgers’ World Series last year and the previous championship in 1988, this city has endured 32 years without a championship. Jugs destroyed themselves. The hitters stopped hitting.
The only consistent exception was Turner, who did not come to the Dodgers as an expensive free agent, but as a player with a minor league contract that was not surrendered by the New York Mets.
This hard-working city told its story about its humble beginnings and appreciated its down-to-earth behavior.
And when the day comes when fans return to Dodger Stadium, they’ll be able to do what they couldn’t do when the COVID-19 pandemic ended the team’s parade for the championship.
They will be able to stand and applaud you, not as a visiting player, but as a Dodger.
In a city that knows a good story when it sees it, Turner will have an appropriate ending.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.