You generally don’t ever see mega-contracts traded in MLB. Sure, it’s happened a few times over the years. Giancarlo Stanton and Nolan Arenado were both dealt on $250+ million contracts. MLB once stepped in to block the trade of Alex Rodriguez from the Texas Rangers to the Boston Red Sox before he was shipped to New York a year later.
Broadly speaking, though, those are the only instances of such a large contract being dealt. The financial commitments make the structure of the deal unsound, as evidenced by the Colorado Rockies’ return in the Arenado deal: five sub-top-100 prospects. The same would be true in a deal for Philadelphia Phillies maligned shortstop Trea Turner, who USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports is being made available in trade talks.
Furthermore, Brandon Marsh is on the block, too, but moving him will be much more straightforward. With only one year left on his contract, MLB insider Jon Morosi says he’s most likely to be traded in a one-for-one swap of expiring contracts, given the uncertainty surrounding the lockout.
Turner, however, is a unique case. Never before has a player been traded coming off such a poor season on such a large contract. In all likelihood, Turner would have to be traded with assets instead of for assets. He’s owed too much money for any club to risk trading prospects for him.
After all, would any general manager sign Turner to a seven-year, $191 million deal right now, coming off the season he had in 2026? A player entering his age-34 season, with a .242/.297/.378 slash line, and calamitous defense sounds like someone who would struggle to earn a multi-year deal, let alone nearly $200 million.
Of course, Turner’s track record makes him more valuable than his bad 2026 season. As recently as two years ago, he seemed to have reinvented himself at shortstop with 17 Statcast OAA.
That version of Turner seems buried in the past, but president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is a Cooperstown-bound executive for a reason. He won’t trade Turner unless a potential deal fits the Phillies' timeline.
The writing is on the wall for Trea Turner at shortstop in Philadelphia
Dombrowski has already discussed moving Turner to the outfield, so his intention to move the $300-million man off shortstop is in motion, whether or not Turner is traded. With top prospect Aidan Miller torching the Arizona Fall League, his promotion to the Majors could come as soon as Opening Day 2027.
Miller has played shortstop his entire professional career, but has been starting at third base in the AFL. With Alec Bohm’s hot corner vacated in Philadelphia, it’d be easy enough to stash Miller there to get him big-league playing time, but that leaves no place for Bryan Rincon.
According to Baseball America, Rincon is not only the best defender in the Phillies system, but he also has the best plate discipline, too. Coming off a 26-homer, .927-OPS season at Double-A Reading, Rincon now factors into the Phillies' plans much more urgently than he did at this time last year.
Miller can be moved off shortstop; Rincon, not so much.
Whether the Phillies move Turner out of the organization or into the outfield, the writing is on the wall for his time at shortstop in Philadelphia. It seems to be coming to an end soon.
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