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| Trea Turner had a disappointing 2026 in the field and at the plate. | CREDIT: Tony Armstrong |
Two hours with Trea Turner. A lineup that needs more production. A bullpen that needs another arm.
Dave Dombrowski delivered his state-of-the-union assessment of the Phillies on Thursday, and his most pointed message concerned his shortstop: Better defense in 2027 is “mandatory.”
Dombrowski discussed potential position changes with Turner during a two-hour conversation, but the Phillies are keeping him at shortstop for now. Turner told him he is most comfortable there and prefers to remain in the infield.
The opportunity to stay comes with an explicit expectation.
“He did not have a good year. He needs to fix things with his swing,” Dombrowski said. “He knows he has to be better at shortstop. I told him that is mandatory. I told him he cannot play shortstop like he did in 2026, going into 2027.”
Dombrowski described Turner as “determined” to show the Phillies he can handle the position. His place near the top of the batting order, meanwhile, will depend on whether his offensive production rebounds.
“If Trea hits the way he is capable of hitting, he can hit at the top of the order,” Dombrowski said. “If he hits the way he hit this year, he probably won’t hit at the top of the order.”
For a player whose value rests on contributing in several ways, the discussion reached across nearly his entire game.
Turner hit .242 with a .297 on-base percentage and .378 slugging percentage in 157 games. He supplied 19 home runs, 58 RBIs, 101 runs scored and 21 stolen bases, but finished with a .675 OPS and an 81 OPS+, below the league-average benchmark of 100.
The decline was especially pronounced following his 2025 season. Turner won the National League batting title that year with a .304 average and posted an .812 OPS. His on-base percentage dropped 58 points in 2026, from .355 to .297, reducing how often he reached base for the hitters behind him.
His defense gave Philadelphia another concern. Turner committed 21 errors and finished with minus-17 Defensive Runs Saved, a metric that estimates a defender’s performance relative to an average player at his position.
Dombrowski said Turner’s assessment of the season reflected those shortcomings.
“Trea does not think he had a good season, offensively or defensively,” Dombrowski said. “He takes complete accountability on that.”
The Phillies’ president of baseball operations also expressed belief that Turner can recover offensively.
“He did not have a good year, but I think he can bounce back from an offensive perspective,” he said.
That recovery would matter well beyond Turner’s individual numbers. Dombrowski’s assessment of the lineup described an offense with too few dependable sources of production.
“Our offense needs to be better,” he said. “We only had two players above average, you could make an argument three players. Schwarber and Harper had very good offensive years overall.”
Dombrowski did not identify the possible third player or specify the statistical measure behind his assessment. But the team’s overall production supports the broader concern.
Philadelphia hit .240 with a .312 on-base percentage and .395 slugging percentage during the regular season. Its .707 OPS ranked 22nd in the majors.
The offseason question is how much of that shortfall the Phillies can address through improvement from returning players and how much requires outside additions. Turner represents a significant part of the first category: a player whose previous season showed considerably more offensive production than Philadelphia received in 2026.
Dombrowski identified an acquisition need in the bullpen, too.
“We know we need to make some type of addition to our bullpen,” he said.
He did not specify a role or target in that comment. Still, it established another item on an offseason agenda that includes improving the lineup and tightening the defense.
“There are a lot of good things about the club,” Dombrowski said.
His conversation with Turner illustrated how that confidence coexists with demands for change. The Phillies heard their shortstop’s preference and are keeping him at his position for now. They believe his bat can recover.
What Dombrowski made clear Thursday is that neither his defensive performance nor his place in the batting order will escape scrutiny in 2027.
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