PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 08: Trea Turner # 7 of the Philadelphia Phillies, MLB Rumors (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
MLB Rumors: Trea Turner explains his Dodgers departure
As it turns out, Trea Turner never had much of a choice to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers because they never gave him the option.
Turner spoke about why he didn’t return to Los Angeles, and instead signed with the Philadelphia Phillies this past winter. There’s no ill will meant towards the Dodgers, of course, as Turner is happy with his $300 million+ deal, and his new team.
Turner expressed that, at one point, the Dodgers ensured him they would be among his suitors in free agency. However, that call never came. Still, the Phillies shortstop wasn’t all that surprised, he said to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
“It’s a business. I told (president of baseball operations) 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. … 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.”
And, as far as Turner knows, Los Angeles was up front with him until the very end. Then, when he was up for grabs and no longer on the roster, that communication ceased to exist. It’s unclear just yet whether the Dodgers will regret moving on from Turner, but for now a move back East was the right play for a Phillies team hoping to build off a National League pennant-winning season.