Red Sox miss golden opportunity to torment Yankees with Justin Turner trade

Justin Turner, the game's current consummate grinder and ultimate postseason performer/motivator, was there for the plucking at this year's trade deadline, available for any team that required an additional winner. He was a powerhouse in Boston last summer, torturing the Yankees at every turn and doing all he could to prevent a last-place finish for the Red Sox (alas, not enough).

Yet somehow, on Monday, Boston instead allowed the team nipping at their heels in the Wild Card chase to add Turner instead. Puzzling.

Turner, who -- again, we cannot stress this enough -- hit .347 with a 1.071 OPS against the Yankees in 12 games last season with the Sawx, will instead head to Seattle in exchange for a singular minor-leaguer: outfielder RJ Schreck. It's a price Boston could've paid.

After all, leadership, familiarity and indefinable grit are priceless.

Yankees MLB Trade Deadline Update: Red Sox whiff on Justin Turner trade

One season after posting a 114 OPS+, which slipped as he attempted to play through a foot injury in an awful September (.221, .580 OPS after .292, .890 in August), Turner's sitting at a 106 mark this season. The end may theoretically be en route, but he's still a valuable player (with the perfect launch angle), and he's an even more valuable secondary assistant coach.

Want to play pessimist? Turner's rolling wRC+ graph looks like the Incredible Hulk Coaster. The highs are high, and the lows are JD Davis low. There's a good chance that Boston believes his best days are behind him, and they have enough thump already (or a better source of thump lined up).

It's undeniable, though, that Turner is both an ideal player to have in your October foxhole and a player (and person) who fit perfectly into Boston's clubhouse ethos last season.

Down the stretch, the Red Sox are going to have a lot of worthy challengers trying to unseat them, unnerve their pitchers, and exploit their inexperienced offensive leaders. Ideally, the Yankees will be one of them. Turner, who could've really helped set a tone, will instead be stalking them down from behind.