The Philadelphia Phillies somehow came away with a win on Monday night in a game that perfectly exemplified the infuriating Trea Turner experience. The erstwhile shortstop went 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and a pair of homers, providing the bulk of the Phils’ offense. On the opposite side of the ball, Turner botched four plays, costing his team multiple runs. It’s far past time for the 33-year-old to be moved off one of the most important positions on the field, but do the Phillies have the guts to do it?
Trea Turner has never been a particularly gifted fielder, as his noodle arm and subpar instincts make him a clumsy fit at shortstop. The one thing he’s always had in his favor is top-tier speed. The 2014 first-round pick has never placed below the 96th percentile in sprint speed in any season of his career thus far, and even this year sits in the 98th. That blazing speed has given Turner the ability to get to balls that most other players could only dream of, allowing him to play a somewhat passable brand of defense.
Unfortunately, his glovework has completely cratered ever since signing an 11-year, $300 million pact with the Phillies, as he’s racked up an astonishing -35 Defensive Runs Saved over the past four seasons. His anomalous solid 2025 campaign is greatly overshadowed by -10 or worse DRS marks in 2023, 2024 and now 2026, with this year being remarkably bad at -13 with 61 games still to play.
What makes Trea Turner so infuriating isn’t what he is unable to do. It’s what he can do and simply doesn’t. He gets to plenty of balls, he just doesn’t execute once he gets there. Too often routine grounders are booted, slow rollers slip under a glove that he failed to get low enough, and rushed throws are sent flying wide of the first baseman’s reach.
Every Phillies fan can rattle off numerous contests in which Turner’s atrocious defense cost his team a winnable game. Monday night’s matchup against the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers seemed to be heading that direction, as he screwed the pooch on four separate occasions. This not only caused starter Cristopher Sánchez to burn more pitches early on, but also mop-up man Chase Shugart to surrender more runs in the ninth inning which led to closer Jhoan Duran needing to come in to collect the final out.
Trea Turner tonight: Two homers, a double, 5 RBIs, three misplays at shortstop. No notes.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 21, 2026
It’s that last part that makes Turner even more maddening. His physical and mental errors don’t just hurt in the box score, but they cause a chain reaction for the whole team, as each one forces the Phillies’ pitchers to work even harder to make up for his mistake, taxing an already-overburdened pitching staff.
Monday’s game should have been a laugher, with the Phillies cruising to an easy 10-3 or 10-4 victory due to an unexpected offensive outburst (in fairness a large part of that was Turner himself). Instead, interim manager Don Mattingly was forced to use six different arms, including high-leverage workers Orion Kerkering, Jonathan Bowlan and Duran, all three of whom could have greatly benefitted from a night off.
The Phillies need to move Trea Turner off shortstop before he does any more damage
There’s no easy mid-season solution to the Trea Turner problem. The Washington Nationals gave him a brief 45-game audition in center field a decade ago, an option which may be worth exploring for a Phillies team in desperate need of quality outfielders, but hardly the kind of transition a veteran can be asked to make on the fly.
The Floridian does have 91 games’ worth of experience at second base on his resume, but he hasn’t lined up at the keystone since 2021. That would be the most obvious potential fix, as current second baseman Bryson Stott has excelled at shortstop when given the chance in the past, and at the very least seems more immune to the kind of mental lapses Turner exhibits on a regular basis.
The reality of the situation is that the Phillies are likely going to stick with Trea Turner as their everyday shortstop for the remainder of the season, considering the fact that embarrassing an established veteran with a move down the defensive spectrum isn’t the kind of decision they’re prone to making. Still, this team’s World Series window is rapidly closing, and they need to do everything in their power to maximize their chances of winning it all while they still can. Continuing to trot out a liability at shortstop is not something championship-caliber teams do, and the Phillies need to figure that out before it’s too late.
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