Earlier this week, Dave Dombrowski summoned Trea Turner to Citizens Bank Park for a face-to-face meeting.
Just five years earlier, Dombrowski had convinced Turner to come play shortstop for the Phillies in a mammoth $300 million contract.
Now the team’s president of baseball operations was looking the 33-year-old in the eye and warning him.
“We’ve been very clear,” Dombrowski said. “He knows he has to be better at shortstop. I told him it’s definitely mandatory.
“If he plays shortstop like he did in ’25, he can play shortstop. But if he plays like he did in ’26, he can’t.”
Dombrowski’s candor in commenting on Turner’s situation was the main takeaway from his annual end-of-season press conference on Thursday. Dombrowski acknowledged the news conference was held later than usual — a full two weeks after Atlanta eliminated the Phillies in the first round of the playoffs. He said he needed time to address the team’s management situation — Don Mattingly, who went 79-55 as interim captain, was retained on a two-year contract — and talk with the players about what would be expected of them in 2027.
His message to Turner was so serious that he asked the player to fly from his home in Florida to Philadelphia for a candid conversation that lasted two hours.
“Trea hasn’t had a good year,” Dombrowski said. “He doesn’t think he had a good season, offensively or defensively. He takes full responsibility.”
Offensively, Turner went from winning the National League batting title (.304) in 2025 to .242 in 2026. Batting first and second in the batting order, his on-base percentage dropped from .378 to .297. His strikeout rate increased from 16.7 percent to 21 percent. He led the majors with 507 strikeouts made.
Turner’s struggles were just as notable on the field, where he finished tied for the major league lead with 21 errors. By almost every metric, he was one of the worst shortstops in baseball. According to Fangraphs, he ranked at minus-17 in defensive runs saved, the worst mark among big league shortstops.
Turner has committed a total of 40 errors at shortstop in 2023 and 2024, his first two seasons in Philadelphia. He tightened things up in 2025, recording plus-17 outs above average, according to Statcast metrics. But that figure fell to minus 10 (the lowest three percent of all defenders) in 2026.
In a game where strength up the middle is vital, the Phillies can’t live with that.
Dombrowski made this clear to Turner.
“He totally understands that,” Dombrowski said.
For now, Turner remains the Phillies’ starting shortstop. This is the position he wants to play. But, according to Dombrowski, Turner will have a short leash. He will need to show improvement starting in spring training to avoid being moved to second base or the outfield. The team is reportedly ready to make moves on the fly while looking at minor league prospects Aidan Miller and Bryan Rincon.
“We went through the scripts,” Dombrowski said of his honest conversation with Turner. “If you don’t play shortstop well in spring training and things don’t work out in that regard… We have some young players. Will they be ready? I don’t know. And I don’t know what other additions we could make this winter. We had to move on from him, if he doesn’t play shortstop, he’s ready to do what’s best for the Philadelphia Phillies organization. That’s how we left him. He is determined to show us he can play it, and I said, ‘You have to show it. You can’t play shortstop like you did defensively in ’26 before you get into ’27.’
Essentially, starting in spring training or whenever the team meets to prepare for the 2027 season, Turner will participate in an almost daily tryout for his shortstop position. This could create some pressure on the player.
“He will work hard and be open-minded and we will just have to make a wise decision on what position he will play,” Dombrowski said. “I can’t control the daily banter about what’s going on. He’s not the first player I’ve been around (in a similar situation). Trea’s a smart guy. He knows he’s got to get better and I think he’ll work through it. He’s got a lot of time left here, but I think he still has it. The reason we drafted him early over others wasn’t just because he was a good player, we thought that he had the ability to continue to be a good player for a long time because of his fast-twitch muscles, the type of athlete that he is leading (in 2025) I was as surprised as him by the offensive year he had this year.
The Phillies have 190 million reasons to want to see Turner improve, on both sides of the ball. He is signed for seven more years for $190 million. He negotiated a full no-trade clause when he signed with the Phillies, so there’s no way on his part.
Turner will have two new voices trying to help him improve. The Phils fired Kevin Long on Wednesday and will have a new hitting coach in 2027. Infield coach Bobby Dickerson was also fired. He was quickly replaced by former New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. In addition to overseeing the interior defense, Mendoza will coach third base.
“Carlos will be responsible for working with Trea,” Dombrowski said.
Improvement must come quickly. If not, Turner could find himself under the tutelage of Pablo Figueroa. He is the team’s field instructor.
Gn sports
