The Phillies have a lot to sort through this winter, but one possibility stands out as especially hard to believe: moving on from Trea Turner.
Philadelphia’s offseason arrives after a year that never quite matched the expectations around the club. The Phillies did extend their run of playoff appearances to five straight seasons, but the 2026 campaign was rough from the start.
They stumbled badly out of the gate, sat 10 games under .500 before replacing the manager with Don Mattingly, and only recovered enough to punch their postseason ticket on the final day. Even then, the season left plenty of questions behind.
Turner was one of the biggest ones. The veteran shortstop turned in the worst season of his career on both sides of the ball, and his struggles played a major part in why the lineup never really clicked.
At the plate, he hit .242/.297/.378 with 19 home runs and 58 RBI. His OPS sat below .700, and that production simply didn’t match the role he was brought in to fill.
The defense was just as concerning. Turner was one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league this season, and the Phillies are already considering moving him off the position. That alone tells you how much the year changed the conversation around him.
The contract makes everything even tougher. After the 2022 season, Philadelphia signed Turner to an 11-year, $300 million deal, a contract that carries an average salary of just over $27 million per season. At 33 years old, with seven years still left on the agreement, the deal looks heavier now than it did when it was signed.
That’s why the idea of a trade feels so far-fetched. The Phillies may explore the market, but finding a team willing to take on both the performance concerns and the remaining money would be a massive challenge. Philadelphia could try to eat some of the contract to make a deal happen, but that would come at a steep cost of its own.
So while Turner’s name may come up this offseason, actually getting him dealt would be a surprise.
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