How Trea Turner to the Phillies affects the Chicago Cubs

Trea Turner has just signed a 11-year deal worth around $300 million with the Philadelphia Phillies to be their new starting shortstop for the next decade.

This was originally reported by Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The Chicago Cubs were rumored to be interested in Turner’s services, but it always felt like the Cubs were on the outside looking in on the Turner market.

The most significant thing about the Turner deal is the duration of the contract. 11 years with a full no trade clause ties him to Philadelphia for a long time.

This contract is the first megadeal signed this offseason in terms of duration and overall money. Most predicted eight-to-ten-year deals for Turner and Carlos Correa, but this makes things a bit more interesting.

The Chicago Cubs might have to spend more than expected to bring in top talent

The Cubs are still in on the shortstop market. They recently checked in with Correa again as well as being active with Xander Bogaerts’ and Dansby Swanson’s camps.  With Turner off the market the bidding on the other three top of the market players is going to get more intense. The question is if Tom Ricketts is going to willing to dish out a contract similar to the one Turner just got.

Correa specifically is going to be asking for ten years at least. He is younger than Turner and has seen the same amount of success if not more in his career. Add in his elite defense and clutch performances, Scott Boras will be asking for the world with the precedent set by Turner’s contract.

When Jason Heyward signed his “megadeal” back in 2016 it shocked the Cubs community. The deal did sting but only because Heyward regressed after signing it. Heyward was a risky sign in the first place considering he was not the same type of player that Correa, Turner, Bogaerts, and Swanson are.

As much as I want to sit here and say the Cubs will offer Correa what he wants because he is in the top tier with Turner, it seems more and more likely that Bogaerts and Swanson are the more realistic options. You cannot go wrong with either of them, but Correa is a level above them.

Ricketts has repeated that the Cubs are willing to spend wisely, but what does that truly mean. With this Turner deal setting the market for the shortstop free agent class, will he be willing to dish out a decade long deal worth potentially over $300 million?

It is clear that the Chicago Cubs need to bring in talent this offseason if they want to take the next step forward. If they do not come out of free agency with one of the four big names on the shortstop market fans will be very disappointed. Trea Turner’s new contract adds even more questions to what the Cubs can and will do over the next weeks. The Cubs will most likely have to overpay in order to land some of the top talent on the market considering how much players are getting this year.