The Phillies’ Many Infield Questions

The Phillies reshuffled their infield at the trade deadline, moving three players to new positions to accommodate Luis Arraez. They kicked Bryson Stott over to third base, Alec Bohm across the diamond to first, and Bryce Harper to right field. Shortstop Trea Turner was the only constant on the dirt. It was an overhaul for a two-month rental that unfortunately didn’t work out. Arraez’s numbers dropped in Philly and he suffered a left ankle sprain that kept him off the Wild Card Series roster. Philadelphia ended up moving Stott back to the keystone and playing Edmundo Sosa at third base in their first-round loss in Atlanta. The group could look a lot different in 2027. Arraez, Bohm and Sosa will all hit free agency. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on Thursday he expected Harper to move back to the primary first base role, though he could see occasional outfield work (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). Dombrowski added that the team hopes to use Kyle Schwarber a little more frequently at first base as well, which would allow skipper Don Mattingly to give Harper more semi-rest days at designated hitter. Turner will remain the starting shortstop to start 2027 — though the Phils made it clear that’s not guaranteed to remain the case all season (link via The Associated Press). “From a defensive perspective, we were very clear. He knows he has to be better at shortstop,” Dombrowski said. “I told him it’s really mandatory that it’s like that. … You cannot play shortstop like you did defensively in ’26 going to ’27.” The 33-year-old Turner is coming off the worst season of his career. He performed poorly on both sides of the ball. Turner’s .242/.297/.378 slash line represented personal lows across the board (aside from his 2015 rookie season in which he barely played). Although he still hit 19 home runs and topped 100 runs scored, a lot of that was opportunity driven with the Phils keeping him in the top two spots in the order. Turner started 156 games and was one of 14 players to tally 700+ plate appearances. It seems the Phillies were even more concerned about how defensive performance. Turner tied Miami’s Otto Lopez for the MLB lead with 21 errors. He ranked dead last among shortstops with -17 Defensive Runs Saved and was fifth from the bottom at the position with a -8 grade from Outs Above Average. Turner did clean things up later in the season, to his credit, only committing one error in September. Still, the overall performance was enough to raise questions about how long he might remain at the position. Turner’s defense began to trend down in 2023-24. He rebounded with a strong season in ’25 before this year’s drop-off. Turner graded well on tracking down balls hit to his right but had far too many mistakes when coming in and/or covering up the middle. He hasn’t lost any kind of foot speed and has never had a huge arm, so it’s not as if his athleticism has disappeared. The Phils will need more consistency out of the position, though, and it’s fair to consider the possibility of moving him to the outfield midseason if he remains error prone. Sosa was the only player other than Turner to start games at shortstop this year. Top prospect Aidan Miller battled back issues and missed virtually the entire season. He’s healthy now and playing in the Arizona Fall League to make up a fraction of the lost reps. Miller has been at third base in the AFL so far. 22-year-old Bryan Rincon had a huge year in Double-A and will be selected onto the 40-man roster this winter. The Phils will presumably want to first expose him to Triple-A pitching but could bring him up midseason. Assuming they don’t retain Bohm or Arraez, the Phillies will need to add at least one infielder from outside the organization. Stott is entering his final year under arbitration control and is a plus defender at second base. He can play either position on the left side of the infield as well but fits best at second. Miller could play his way into the everyday third base job out of camp, but they’d still need a better utility option than Otto Kemp. A multi-positional type like Mauricio Dubón would be an ideal fit. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ha-Seong Kim are lower end utility types available in free agency, or the Phils could target someone like Willi Castro or Jared Triolo via trade. Philadelphia’s overall team defense has been an issue for years. They finished 22nd in Outs Above Average and tied the A’s for last in DRS this past season. Mattingly identified that as a priority for improvement immediately after being hired as the full-time skipper. “Defense is just a premium. It’s an area that I really would like to push,” he told reporters in a Zoom session this week. That’s going to need to start this offseason.