In an effort to gain back ground on the Mets in the National League East, the Washington Nationals promote Trea Turner. Turner had played shortstop throughout his minor league career, but has played both shortstop and second base lately, so it looks like he could be used in a utility role, helping slumping superstar shortstop Ian Desmond as well as 2B Danny Espinosa. Turner has decent power and excellent speed, and he’s at least average at shortstop, so a move to the keystone shouldn’t be too taxing on him.
Washington received Turner as a player to be named later in the three team swap sending Steven Souza and others to the Tampa Bay Rays and Wil Myers and others to the San Diego Padres. Turner is the 12th best prospect in baseball according to MLB.com and the number two prospect in the Nationals’ system. He looks like he should be a solid building block for the Nationals. That being said, it’s very interesting that they are bringing him up now. Previously, it was assumed they would keep him in the minors and give him a chance to win the starting shortstop job in Spring Training next year.
But the Nationals have fallen to a 60-60 record and are currently four games back on the New York Mets. The Nationals are trying to win with the core they have before several players leave for free agency, such as Denard Span, Ian Desmond, Doug Fister and Jordan Zimmermann. They still have several talented guys under contract for a while and a decent farm system, but more and more pressure is on manager Matt Williams to get this team to win now.
I imagine Turner being used as a spot starter for second base, third base and shortstop. He could also be used some as a pinch runner and defensive sub, since he has top-grade speed. It will be interesting to see if this is the spark the team needs to catch back up to the Mets or if they still end up falling out of the playoff picture.
