Dodgers: Former GM Doesn't See Trea Turner Returning to Los Angeles 'at His Price'
Los Angles Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner has yet to decide where he will play next. Turner spent the past season and a half in Dodger blue and played his best baseball in blue.
Turner will look for a huge payday this off-season, and he has earned it. Trea is in the top 15 for batting average leaders and RBIs; also, he had the second most hits in the season at 194 behind his teammate Freddie Freeman who had 199.
Even though Trea deserves a big contract, someone other than LA might give him that.
Senior MLB insider and former GM Jim Bowden were asked if Dodgers president of Baseball operations Andrew Freidman will make an effort to re-sign Turner. Bowden said the price might not be to the shortstops liking.
“I don’t think Friedman is going to allocate $300 million for Turner, but he would like him back at his price, whatever that is. That said, Friedman has plenty of options. He could try to sign Aaron Judge and move Gavin Lux to shortstop. He could pursue one of the other star free-agent shortstops: Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts or Dansby Swanson. However, he also has a lot of work to do on the pitching staff, and decisions to make on Justin Turner (the Dodgers declined his club option but could pursue a reunion) and Cody Bellinger (deciding whether to trade or tender him).”
It’s very rare for Freidman to break the bank. We’ve seen it in recent memory with Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, and it’s been reported that former World Series MVP Corey Seager turned down a massive contract. So, when Freidman wants someone, he’ll do what it takes to acquire them.
It’ll be a big plus for the Dodgers to secure a talent like Trea’s for many years to come, but if they cannot, it’s nice to know that they have trust in Lux to take over shortstop. Remember, Gavin’s natural position is at shortstop, so we’ll see if they aggressively pursue a shortstop out of house if it fails with Turner.
