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The primary domino within the free-agent shortstop sweepstakes has fallen.
The Phillies solidified one in all their most obtrusive positions of want for the following decade by inking Trea Turner to an enormous 11-year, $300 million dedication, whereas the Dodgers are left to determine the best way to substitute the shortstop’s 194 hits of their lineup.
Turner joins Fernando Tatis Jr. (14 years, $340 million), Francisco Lindor (10 years, $341 million) and Corey Seager (10 years, $325 million) among the many $300 million males at his place. With Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson nonetheless on the board, it’s potential at the very least one of many remaining accessible shortstops quickly joins him in that particular membership because the motion intensifies throughout the Winter Meetings.
Monday morning was all concerning the Nationwide League East. Hours after the Mets inked Justin Verlander to a two-year, $86 million take care of a vesting possibility for 12 months three, the Phillies countered with an offensive punch. The match between Turner and the Nationwide League champions appeared like an apparent one, with Philadelphia seeking to construct on final season’s shock run.
Turner, a Florida native who performed faculty ball at NC State, returns to the East Coast and rejoins former Nationals teammate Bryce Harper to create a deadly duo. Rookie Bryson Stott can bump over to second base, the place he performed 47 video games final season, with Jean Segura a free agent after his possibility was declined.
The Phillies have their new leadoff hitter and beginning shortstop for the foreseeable future in a dynamic expertise. Turner has averaged an .870 OPS over the previous 4 seasons, and his mixed 20 fWAR over that point trails solely Aaron Judge — who will quickly be securing a large bag of his personal — for the best mark within the majors.
Turner completed final season with extra hits, doubles, runs, RBIs and stolen bases than any participant presently within the Philadelphia lineup. No certified Phillies batter had a batting common higher than .280 final season; Turner’s was .298, and that was throughout a 2022 season by which he felt like he had created dangerous habits and was looking on the plate for a lot of the 12 months. He hasn’t hit worse than that since 2018.
For a lot of the season’s second half, Turner mentioned he was attempting to make changes to get again to the place he was in 2021, when he led the majors with a .328 batting common and completed the 12 months with a 145 OPS+ — the most effective mark of his profession in a full 162-game season. Though his chase proportion climbed significantly final 12 months to 33.1% (for perspective, the Phillies chased at pitches 30.9% of the time final season, the fourth-highest in baseball), Turner nonetheless completed the 12 months slashing .298/.343/.466 with 21 homers, 27 stolen bases, 101 runs scored and 100 RBIs.
He felt like he discovered his swing once more on the finish of the common season and went 6-for-18 with 4 extra-base hits within the playoffs. The pace menace has been among the many most slump-proof gamers within the sport. Turner led the majors in hits in two of the previous three seasons. He by no means went greater than three video games with out a hit this 12 months. Since becoming a member of the Dodgers in August 2021, Turner recorded hits in 178 of his 212 video games. He failed to succeed in base simply 21 occasions.
The 4 longest Dodgers hitting streaks of the previous two seasons — 27, 26, 20 and 18 video games — all belong to Turner, regardless of him not becoming a member of the group till August 2021.
At 29 years previous, Turner has not but misplaced his pace. He ranked fifth within the majors in dash pace this season, which is definitely a slight tick sooner than two of his previous 4 seasons. Turner has ranked within the high seven within the class yearly of his profession.
Evidently, it’s a considerable loss for the Dodgers.
Internally, the obvious candidate to take over the place is Gavin Lux. Prospects Michael Busch or Jacob Amaya may additionally assist ease the middle-infield vacancies in some unspecified time in the future. Even with Clayton Kershaw formally signing his one-year, $20 million deal, the Dodgers stay about $45 million underneath the luxury-tax threshold. That might tempt them to signal one of many remaining free-agent shortstops, however with a bevy of extremely regarded prospects quickly to debut, they might additionally entertain trades to fill the void.
Prime tales from FOX Sports activities:
Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and NL West for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Observe him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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