Phillies Star Motivated To Silence 'Annoying' Rhetoric About His Lackluster Play

This is an important year for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The entire baseball world knows how "all in" this franchise has become in regards to winning a World Series title, landing star player after star player to field the third-highest payroll in Major League Baseball.

It's also well known the Phillies have gone backwards in recent seasons.

Following their trip to the World Series in 2022, they blew a 3-2 lead in the NLCS the following year that stopped them short of reaching the Fall Classic again, this time facing a banged up Texas Rangers team that many analysts think they would have beat.

With the goal of getting that bad taste out of their mouths, the Phillies were red-hot to start the 2024 season, owning the best record in baseball at the All-Star break before a lackluster second half caused them to limp into the playoffs where they fizzled out in frustrating fashion against the New York Mets in the NLDS.

Now, it feels like it's now or never with this aging roster.

And if Philadelphia is going to get over the hump, they need a lot more from their $300 million shortstop Trea Turner.

When taking a step back and looking at what Turner has done since signing his lucrative contract with the team ahead of the 2023 campaign, it would be unfair to say he's been bad.

He has a slash line of .279/.328/.463 with an OPS+ of 116. He's been an All-Star. He's hit 20-plus homers in both seasons he's been with the team. And he's been worth three or more Wins Above Replacement in each year.

But for the type of money he's getting paid, it's also fair to say his tenure has been disappointing.

Turner has been abysmal on defense, sitting with a -1 bWAR and -9 Outs Above Average per Baseball Savant. He's also striking out at the highest rate of his career and walking the fewest amount of times per plate appearance.

And as he gets older, there is a fear his contract won't age well.

Turner hears the noise.

It's hard not to in this city that has a fan base that vocalizes their every emotion.

He's also ready to prove his doubters wrong, hoping to perform at a level that makes even his staunchest critics silent.

"That's just a competitor in me ... I don't even care what somebody says about me anymore. Obviously, it's annoying. But if I just play better, they can't say anything. Right? So it definitely still motivates me. Definitely still bugs me. But now it's more personal with myself than it is about somebody else saying it about me," he said to Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription required).

That sounds good, but talk is cheap.

The Phillies did a lot of that last year, saying everything was fine during their struggles when it clearly wasn't. Giving lip service about being more disciplined at the plate then turning around and constantly chasing pitches.

It's time for action, and Turner knows it.

"... in the last two years, there's been a lot of talking. A lot of this, a lot of that. I want to (expletive) do it, you know?" he added.

Philadelphia is hoping that comes to fruition this year.

He's not far removed from his 2022 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers where he finished 11th in NL MVP voting and won a Silver Slugger Award after putting up a career-high 100 RBI and an OPS+ that was 24 points above the league average.

That's still in there for Turner.

Just last year he produced the same OPS+ figure that he had in the 2022 campaign, putting up similar batting numbers across the board.

If he can become more consistent at the plate and be a solid defender like he once was, then Turner will be one of the best players on this team like he was expected to be when he signed his monster contract.

And if that happens, he could be a major reason why they lift the World Series trophy.

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