MLBTR reported that:
The White Sox have claimed right-hander Jacob Turner off waivers from the Cubs, according to the club’s transactions page at MLB.com. Turner, 24, didn’t pitch in the Majors this season, spending most of the year on the 60-day disabled list due to a strained right flexor tendon and right shoulder inflammation.
Turner, who was considered a top-30 prospect for a few years running, received steady MLB work after the Tigers traded him to Miami as the centerpiece in the trade package that sent Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to Detroit. He posted a 3.74 ERA over 118 innings in 2013, which is
pretty good for a 22-year-old, even with unconvincing peripherals.
Then the wheels came off the following year -- a 5.98 ERA and a .328/.371/.480. Turner was out of options so he was traded in a minor league deal to the Cubs in August of 2014. But Turner pitched even worse for the Cubs for 34 innings over the remainder
of 2014, then missed almost all of 2015 with the aforementioned
injuries.
Turner has never had the eye popping performance with the Cubs to even get a whiff that he could be the next Jake Arrieta turnaround story. Chris Bosio is like Don Cooper, pitcher whisperers, who get the most out of cast-off pitchers. But there is no current body of work that shows that Turner is a salvageable or serviceable starting pitcher.
Turner, 24 years
old, is a "low-risk-high-reward" move for the White Sox. The Sox have a strong starting rotation, but no starter depth in the minors. Erik Johnson will get a chance at the fifth
rotation spot behind lefties Sale, Quintana, Rodon, and Danks.
Whether Turner will get the chance
is an open question. First, the White Sox will have to protect him offseason of 40-man
roster churn (or an outrighting, which the Sox prevented the Cubs from
doing here by making a waiver claim). After that, since Turner is out of options, the Sox will need to
keep him on the 25-man roster or risk losing him through waivers should
they want to get him to Charlotte.
