Temporary Trea Turner replacement just hit the market for the Phillies

While the Philadelphia Phillies seem destined to win the National League East and earn a bye to the National League Division Series, it takes just one bad weekend in October for all of that regular season success to turn into postseason disappointment. 

And normally, the best way to avoid that is by having a roster that’s at full strength. 

The Phillies may not have that luxury. On Sunday, Phillies shortstop Trea Turner left their game against the Marlins with a right hamstring strain that he appeared to sustain attempting to leg out a ground ball.

He immediately left the game, and will visit a doctor later today to gain more information about the strain. 

But regardless of the diagnosis he receives, it seems like the Phillies will have to prepare for life without Turner, which is a nightmare scenario for Rob Thomson and Co. 

Although there’s never a good time for a superstar to get hurt, September is perhaps the worst time for it to happen. In any other month, the uber-aggressive Dave Dombrowski would respond to such an injury by working the phones and trading for a major league replacement. Since we’re past the July 31 trade deadline, though, the options to replace a player of Turner’s talents are limited.

But in a bit of a stroke of luck for Dombrowski, the St. Louis Cardinals recently designated Garrett Hampson for assignment, who could end up being a solid Turner replacement in the short-term. 

Temporary Trea Turner replacement just hit the market for the Phillies

Hampson has spent time with the Diamondbacks, Reds and Cardinals this year, where he’s hit .143 in 62 games across the three teams. No, he’s not Turner, but he’s appeared in 692 games across his major league career and has played every position but catcher in his career. 

Edmundo Sosa will get the lion’s share of playing time at shortstop should Turner miss any serious time, while Otto Lopez will likely get the call-up from Triple-A to fill Sosa’s bench spot. 

While Turner said postgame that he hopes the hamstring injury isn’t as severe as the one that kept him out for six weeks in 2024, it’s hard to imagine that he returns during the regular season. 

Hampson would be the perfect kind of substitute in the time that he misses. He wouldn’t be eligible to play in the postseason since he’s being acquired and imported to the organization after Sept. 1, but the Phillies wouldn’t want him batting in the postseason anyway. 

Sosa has been a valuable utility bench piece throughout his Phillies tenure, and the roster would be less flexible should he need to step into an everyday role at shortstop in Turner’s stead. Adding the speedy Hampson would help alleviate that. 

Turner’s injury is another stroke of bad luck for a Phillies team that’s already going to be without Zack Wheeler for the rest of the year, but it looks like it’s not going to be a death blow for the team’s chance to be a true World Series contender.