When the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Trea Turner from the Washington Nationals at the 2021 trade deadline, it was always assumed he would go back to the East Coast once reaching free agency.
It was continuously reported Turner and his wife preferred to be on the East Coast as both are originally from that side of the country. That eventually proved to be the case as Turner signed an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies following the 2022 season.
But during his time in L.A., playing on the West Coast grew on Turner. “I thought I fit in good, I really enjoyed it,” he said.
“It’s definitely different. I think just East Coast and West Coast is different for different reasons, or whatever it may be, but I liked it a lot. I tried going into it with open eyes and an open mind. I had fun.”
Despite the rumors of his East Coast preference, Turner continued to insist he would consider staying on the West Coast. He reiterated that on Monday when he returned to Dodger Stadium for the first time since signing his new deal, saying he “for sure” have considered re-signing with the Dodgers.
“I entertained one West Coast team, I definitely would’ve entertained another,” he added. “Especially one that I enjoyed playing for and was familiar with.
“It didn’t work out, but I definitely would’ve considered it, would’ve entertained it. I thought they would be in on me, they weren’t. But they were definitely in my top few teams.”
The Dodgers did explore a contract extension with Turner during Spring Training in 2022, but negotiations didn’t advance far.
“Once that happened, anything is possible,” Turner said. “It’s a business. I told Andrew (Friedman), ‘Just be honest with me and I’ll be honest with you.’ We had great communication. I tip my cap to him. He communicated really well in the time I was there, and that’s all I really asked of them. It just didn’t work out. But yeah, no contact there.”
Once he entered free agency, Turner expected the Dodgers to remain in contact about a new contract. But they ultimately didn’t make much of an effort to sign the All-Star shortstop and never made him an offer.
“From the conversations I had, they told me they would be there in free agency and have conversations and stuff,” Turner recalled. “But then once free agency opened, didn’t have too much contact with them. We didn’t talk to them very much; I think it might have been one or two phone calls in two months or so.
“Kind of after that first week or so, I figured that was a possibility. But like I said, I didn’t want to close any doors because you never know what’s going to happen. Free agency was wild and anything could happen at any time. I kind of had a feeling then, but definitely not while I was here.”
Although there was a little disappointment from Turner about the Dodgers not attempting to re-sign him, he knew the sport is a business first and foremost.
“It’s the same thing as getting traded. You’re like, ‘Man, you got traded,’ but then obviously a team wanted you. So you’re like, ‘Man, I just played there. Did they not want me?’ But I don’t think that’s necessarily fair either.
“Like I keep saying, it’s the nature of the business. It just didn’t work out. You want that two-way street, you want that love, you could say. I think the relationships that I built were very good for me, and I enjoyed it.”
Trea Turner: 2022 Dodgers were ‘special team’
Turner won the 2019 World Series with the Washington Nationals and has been a part of five postseason teams. But none of them won as many games as the 2022 Dodgers, who he believes was the best club he’s played on.
“I mean, it’s up there,” Turner said. “Obviously we didn’t get it done and we wanted to win the World Series, but as far as pure talent and team, last year, 111 wins is pretty hard to do so. That was a special team.
“A lot of good players. Really cool sharing the clubhouse with a lot of them, and Freddie (Freeman) for the first time, Mookie (Betts) is obviously there, and pitching is always great with Clayton (Kershaw) and whatnot. I would say last year is probably top of the list, for sure.”
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