The two greatest Phillies shortstops are happy to welcome Trea Turner to the family: ‘We got the right guy’
Larry Bowa says Turner has “the perfect makeup” to play in Philly, and Jimmy Rollins is excited to watch a guy who can do “a little bit of everything.”
ARLINGTON, Texas — Before the Phillies took the 11-year, $300 million plunge for their top offseason target, they crisscrossed the country to consider the alternatives.
Due diligence? Sure. They knew their contract offer to Trea Turner might not be the largest he would receive (it wasn’t), and they had to be ready to pivot. But it was more than that. As much as they coveted Turner, team officials also wanted to challenge their preconceptions of the star-studded shortstop market.
So, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Sam Fuld went to Georgia in late November to meet with Dansby Swanson. Manager Rob Thomson joined them in California for visits with Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts ahead of the winter meetings. They sat down with Turner twice.
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Turner remained their clear No. 1 choice, and he chose them, too — for $42 million less than he could’ve gotten if he signed with the Padres. And after six weeks of spring training — including a two-week World Baseball Classic interlude in which Turner was the best player for Team USA — none other than the two greatest shortstops in Phillies history are glad he did.
”We got the right guy,” Jimmy Rollins said by phone this week.
”This was a great sign for the Phillies,” Larry Bowa added. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”
Rollins started 14 consecutive opening days at shortstop for the Phillies from 2001-14; Bowa started 12 in a row from 1970-81. For the third-longest shortstop run, you have to go back to 1913, when Mickey Doolin made his ninth straight opening-day start.
Turner has a chance to join that lineage. The aging curve for shortstops tends to be unkind. But he doesn’t turn 30 until the last day of June, and his contract runs through his 40th birthday. He also hasn’t lost a step, literally, since his rookie year. According to Statcast, his sprint speed last season (30.3 feet per second) was nearly identical to 2015 (30.7).
Bowa and Rollins watched Turner, from afar and up close, this spring. Bowa, a spring training instructor, hit grounders to him and the other infielders every morning on the half-field at the Carpenter Complex. Rollins spent a few minutes with Turner in Miami on March 21 before the finals of the WBC.
And although they were familiar with Turner — he is, after all, a two-time All-Star, a batting champion, and a World Series winner in Washington in 2019 — the impression is less superficial now that they know him as a member of the Phillies shortstop brotherhood.
”When you look at him, he still plays the game like a shortstop,” said Rollins, back for another season on TBS’ pre- and postgame show beginning Tuesday night with the Phillies-Yankees game in New York. “He can hit for average. The power has come on later in his career, which is the way it should be. But he’s true to the position in the sense that it’s still a glam position built around speed and your ability just to make things happen on the field and not be one-dimensional.
”That has kind of gotten away from baseball itself but definitely that [shortstop] position, where it’s been hit and don’t run, or play good defense, do a little bit of hitting, and don’t run. Trea’s like, ‘I could do it all.’ He has a little bit of everything. He’s a guy that can do it all. He can steal bases, he can hit for average, he can hit behind runners, he can score on balls in the gap. He’s exciting to watch play.”
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Turner showed it in the third inning of Thursday’s opening-day loss to the Rangers. He reached out for a Jacob deGrom slider, cued it the other way to right field, then zoomed to third base, sliding in smooth as ever with an RBI triple for his first Phillies hit.
Only one shortstop last season had at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. Guess who. Turner did it in 2021, too, while also leading the league in hits (195) and batting average (.328).
In the last decade, the only other 20/20 shortstops in back-to-back seasons are Ian Desmond (2012-14), Francisco Lindor (2018-19), and Trevor Story (2018-19). Rollins reached those marks four times in seven years (2012, 2009, 2007, and 2006).
Turner’s talent is evident from across the field. But watching him work left Bowa thinking about another famous shortstop.
”He reminds me a little bit, the mentality, of [Derek] Jeter,” said Bowa, who coached third base for the Yankees in 2006-07. “If Jete came up in the ninth inning and struck out with the tying run at third, he’d want to come up the next night. I think that’s Turner’s philosophy. He’s not afraid of the moment.
”He’s one of those guys that, if you watch him on TV once a week, you say, ‘This guy’s really good.’ And then when you watch him play every day, you’re saying, ‘Man, he brings it like that every single game.’ And this guy wants to play every day. This guy goes out there, he posts up. He’s the real deal.”
Bowa said Turner confided in him in spring training that he’s anxious about getting off to a good start. Not because he’s feeling added pressure to carry the Phillies while Bryce Harper recovers from Tommy John elbow surgery and Rhys Hoskins is out for the season after knee surgery. Turner claimed he tends to start slowly, although his .833 career on-base plus slugging in April is in line with his overall .842 mark.
”I knew he hit home runs, but I mean, his swing, it’s an effortless swing,” Bowa said. “He’s got a great approach to the baseball. He’s got a good two-strike approach. If he’s down 0-2 or 1-2, he’s not afraid to hit the ball the other way. He’s going to be a big force in our lineup.”
A word of caution: Philadelphia isn’t for everybody. It can take time to adapt to life in a sports-obsessed Northeast market, and you don’t always know until you live through it. Just ask Nick Castellanos.
Bowa and Rollins were raised as Phillies. They came through the farm system out of high school. It’s usually easier to handle the Philly baseball experience if you’re born into it.
Turner’s roots are elsewhere. He grew up in Florida, went to college at North Carolina State, got drafted by San Diego, came to the majors with Washington, and got traded to Los Angeles. He’s the rare two-time All-Star who has been overshadowed by star teammates, from Harper, Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto with the Nationals to Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, and Freddie Freeman with the Dodgers.
But neither Bowa nor Rollins is concerned about Turner’s ability to fit in.
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”Not at all. He’s well-equipped,” Rollins said. “He’s been on the East Coast, so it’s not new to him. He’s played in Philly as a visitor. He knows what that’s like. He understands the rivalry that will be between the Braves and the Mets because he’s been in that division. He seems mentally ready. I think he’ll be fine there.”
Said Bowa: “I think this guy has got the perfect makeup to play in this city. The mental side of his game is second to none. I don’t want to put numbers on him, but if things fell right, he could be one of those guys you talk about at the end of the year as an MVP. I really believe that.”
Throw in a World Series, and Bowa and Rollins would have to make room for Turner in the club of iconic Phillies shortstops.
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