Justin Turner, Boston Red Sox
Finally, one of the supposingly unexpected, yet potentially awesome candidate includes two-time All-Star and former World Series champion Justin Turner. Turner has a breadth of postseason experience, having appeared in over 86 playoff games, amassing a career postseason average of .270, an OPS of .830, with 43 runs scored, 19 doubles, 13 home runs, 42 RBI and five stolen bases. Let’s just say, he can get the job done when it matters most. Not only that, at age 38, he appears to be still going strong, as he has put together a solid season with the Boston Red Sox.
For 2023, Turner is hitting .289, with an .836 OPS, with 60 runs scored, 22 doubles, 15 home runs and 61 RBI in 93 games played. He would be the ultimate ideal trade target for the Phillies to grab for a deep playoff run. However, the Red Sox has recently strung together a torrid run in which they have won 11 of their past 15 games to put themselves right back in the playoff hunt, so the availability of Turner will depend upon if they fall back to earth the coming weeks or if they maintain that hot streak. For Phillies’ sake, they should certainly hope for the former so that they can take a stab at adding the guaranteed difference maker to the ballclub.
The good news is for each of these five trade candidates, the Phillies probably won’t be jeopardizing their farm system in their attempts to acquire them, leaving many assets still available to upgrade in other areas. Hopefully, in doing so, it will be enough to get the Phillies back again into playoff contention, and ultimately the postseason.