{"id":831218,"date":"2026-10-17T03:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T03:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/831218\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T03:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T03:12:14","slug":"if-trea-turner-doesnt-convince-phillies-to-keep-him-at-ss-will-he-remain-an-infielder-down-beach-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/831218\/","title":{"rendered":"If Trea Turner doesn\u2019t convince Phillies to keep him at SS, will he remain an infielder? \u2013 Down Beach News"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 For now, Trea Turner remains at shortstop for the Phillies<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski<\/a> was frank in his assessment Thursday of where Turner stands at shortstop, two days after meeting with the former All-Star in person at Citizens Bank Park. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a defensive perspective, we are very clear \u2014 he knows he has to be better at shortstop. I told him that it\u2019s really mandatory that he\u2019s like that,\u201d Dombrowski said. \u201cHe feels he can play, and if he plays shortstop like he did in \u201925, he can play shortstop. But if he plays it like he did in \u201926, he can\u2019t. He totally understands that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a little unclear how the Phillies are going to test whether Turner can stick at shortstop. He\u2019ll work with new infield coach Carlos Mendoza, but depending upon how long the lockout goes, there could be a shortened Spring Training or Summer Camp to really evaluate things. And ultimately, Turner can look great in the Grapefruit League, but if he makes an error at shortstop on Opening Day, fans will be up in arms. <\/p>\n

What was clear from listening to Dombrowski is that the Phillies aren\u2019t going to be afraid to pivot from Turner during the 2027 season if he isn\u2019t performing at shortstop. Aidan Miller and Bryan Rincon are prospects not far from the majors who are shortstops. Bryson Stott\u2019s natural position is shortstop, even if he\u2019s probably better at second or third base. And there\u2019s always the possibility of signing a free agent<\/a>, whether that would be bringing back Edmundo Sosa<\/a> or someone else. <\/p>\n

So let\u2019s say, whether it\u2019s during Spring Training or sometime in the season, that the Phillies decide that despite Turner\u2019s best efforts, he just can\u2019t play shortstop anymore. What position would he slide to? Many fans and pundits have suggested he could become an outfielder, although Dombrowski had an interesting answer Thursday when asked about that possibility. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he\u2019s played there before,\u201d Dombrowski said of the outfield. \u201cHe prefers the infield, I would say, other positions. So I would think it\u2019s something that he\u2019s a good athlete. I think he can adjust appropriately, but we\u2019ll wait and we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s technically true that Turner has played in the outfield before, but it\u2019s not particularly relevant experience at this point. He played 387 2\/3 innings in center field<\/a> for the Washington Nationals in 2016, his age-23 season. Most of his defensive metrics \u2014 including his minus-two defensive runs saved \u2014 were not very good. He did have two outs above average, for what it\u2019s worth. But the fact that he didn\u2019t ever play there again gives you an idea of how the Nationals felt about it. In any event, Turner will play next season at 34 years old. He had hamstring injuries in both 2024 and 2025. From here, it feels unlikely he would go to center field in his mid-30s just because he played there a bit over a decade ago. <\/p>\n

Left field is hardly an unreasonable idea. The Phillies have won with left fielders who aren\u2019t great defenders during the Citizens Bank Park Era, such as Pat Burrell, Ra\u00fal Iba\u00f1ez and Kyle Schwarber. There are other stadiums where left field is harder to traverse, but it\u2019s doable at Citizens Bank Park. If nothing else, it\u2019s not as important of a position as shortstop or center field, so it could be easier to hide Turner there if he\u2019s underwhelming. <\/p>\n

Still, the most natural pivot might be in the infield. It\u2019s probably not likely that one day next spring Turner comes to the Phillies and just acknowledges he can\u2019t play shortstop anymore. If they come to that conclusion, there might have to be a bit of give and take with Turner, who is under contract through the 2033 season. If he would prefer to stay in the infield over going to the outfield, then at least in 2027, that might be a concession worth making to him. <\/p>\n

Also, it might just be the right move. <\/p>\n

\"2021Oct 1,\u00a02021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman\u00a0Trea\u00a0Turner\u00a0(6) and shortstop Corey Seager (5) celebrate the 8-6 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

No one is suggesting Turner become the third baseman. But second base might be a fit. He has played there more recently than the outfield, as Turner shifted to second base when he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2021 season because they had Corey Seager at shortstop. Across 436 2\/3 innings at second base, Turner posted three defensive runs saved and two outs above average. He did make five errors still, so he probably wouldn\u2019t be a Gold Glove candidate at second. But again, it\u2019s a less important position than shortstop, and his athleticism could allow him to have some impressive moments at the spot. The aforementioned Stott would likely then play third base. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the real tell will be whether Turner takes reps at any positions other than shortstop next Spring Training \u2014 again, assuming the labor situation is figured out in a relatively timely manner. But Dombrowski\u2019s infield comment Thursday felt noteworthy. <\/p>\n

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What 2026 Phillies won\u2019t be back in 2027?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 For now, Trea Turner remains at shortstop for the Phillies. But president of baseball operations Dave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2398],"tags":[5,4,415,414,71,4222],"class_list":["post-831218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-nationals","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-nationals","tag-washington","tag-washington-nationals","tag-washingtonnationals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117454067653976484","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}