Why Justin Turner is right about the way trade’s are reported in the MLB
The 3 team trade that sent Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers first broke on Tuesday night by ESPN reporter Jeff Passan. The trade was a blockbuster and arguably the biggest trade the Red Sox have made since they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919… yes thats not a typo. The trade was between the Red Sox, Dodgers, and the Twins. The Red Sox would send Betts along with pitcher David Price to the Dodgers, the Dodgers would send outfielder Alex Verdugo to the Red Sox, and the Twins would send hard throwing pitcher Brusdar Graterol to the Red Sox while getting back Kenta Maeda from the Dodgers. Then the next day it was reported that the trade was on hold, as the Red Sox had projected Graterol to be a starting pitcher but upon seeing his medical review the Red Sox were unsure if Graterol (who has battled shoulder injuries in the past) would be able to pitch more then a few innings a game. The hold on the trade put peoples lives up in the air. When you are traded to a different team it means that you have to pack up and move to a whole new city (unless you get traded from the Angels to the Dodgers, or the Yankees to the Mets) and moving to a new city means you have to get a new apartment or house, and if you have kids, you will have to move them to a whole different school. Its not fair for players to get put through that type of treatment. Professional athletes should be notified before they are traded that there is a possibility that they might be on the move, so they have time to figure out new living situations, new schools, etc… Now i hate the argument that I’ve heard on Twitter which is usually along the lines of this, “Well baseball players make millions of dollars, who cares if they have to move to new cities and move their kids to a different school.” Why? Because professional baseball players are human beings too just like all of us.
Dodgers third baseman, Justin Turner, shared his opinion of the trade on Twitter saying, “Here’s a concept. Let trades happen, and then report on them! All these reporters only care about being first. Meanwhile players and their families are emotional wrecks not knowing if they are or aren’t being traded from the only org they’ve known. No one cares who was 1st.” Turner is right, nobody really cares who breaks the trade, people just care if whats being reported is true. Turner being a professional athlete, he knows first hand what a trade can do to a person. He’s been with the Dodgers since 2014, so he has seen many teammates come and go, as he is 1 of 4 players left on that 2014 Dodgers team. Turner followed up with another tweet shortly after, “Last point, I don’t think people, including myself, realize the impact that 280 characters can have on a person. While it seems like just a harmless report on 1 end, it can send the person/family on the other side into a tailspin. Again no one cares who’s 1st.” He even says that before he didn't really realize the impact that 280 characters (a tweet) could have on somebody.
I think that in sports, not just baseball, that the athletes that play are treated as assets and not human beings. Baseball is a job, you should be treated like a valuable asset to your company, but you should be given due notice if you are going to be traded so that you have time to get your affairs in order. I’m glad Major league baseball teams and the reporters have a good relationship, so that trades, signings, and all other things pertaining to a baseball team can be reported smoothly and quickly, but sometimes reporters need to make sure that all the facts are straight and correct before the news is officially broken.
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