On the same day the Los Angeles Dodgers completed their trade for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, they also activated Corey Seager off the 60-day injured list. Turner is yet to join the team as he remains in MLB’s COVID protocols, but the Dodgers will soon have a decision on their hands.
Most expect Turner will slide over to second base for the remainder of this season and spell Seager on occasion at shortstop. He also has some experience in center field.
Both Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts declined to publicly discuss plans for Turner until they can speak with the versatile infielder.
“I don’t know yet,” answered Friedman when asked where Turner fit into the picture. “From our standpoint, we have yet to be healthy as a group all year. So it’s a little silly to speculate once we’re healthy what will things look like. We’ve yet to really see that all season.
“Hopefully we are. It will be a really good problem to have. As soon as Trea is able to join us we’ll sit down eye to eye, talk through things and work everything out. I think the most important thing is everyone’s mindset is on how we go about winning a championship in 2021. So we’ll figure that out and obviously as we gain clarity, we’ll share that.”
When asked if it was safe to assume Turner would be who plays multiple positions because of his experience doing so, Friedman reiterated, “We want to sit down and talk to Trea face to face and kind of go through things. We’ll know a lot more about where we are health-wise with our position players. When we have answers, we’ll share it.
“It’s something we would want to talk to Trea and have a lot more information when he joins us of what things look like.”
Roberts looking forward to speaking with Turner
The Dodgers front office will certainly have input on planning and the Dodgers’ depth chart, but from there it will be up to Roberts to juggle playing time and personalities.
“I want to talk to Trea,” he said. Corey has been our shortstop for many years and he’s been a premier shortstop, as Andrew mentioned. Trea is right there in that same caliber. I’m going to talk to him and kind of figure out the best fit for him and our club.
“This guy can do so many things on a baseball field. Right now he’s a Dodger, Corey’s a Dodger, and it’s about winning. We’ll put the pieces together.”
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