Phillies plan to activate Turner, start him at short for opener of Padres series originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
BALTIMORE – If Trea Turner can avoid tripping on a crack or being hit by a stray piece of space debris, the Phillies plan to activate him from the injured list and start him at shortstop when they return home to play the Padres Monday night.
“Unless something weird happens,” manager Rob Thomson said before Sunday’s series finale at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. “I feel good about where he is.”
The corresponding roster move was not immediately announced, but the decision of who to trim will likely come down to David Dahl, Cristian Pache or Johan Rojas. Dahl has started seven games in left since being called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on June 3. Pache is out of options. The question with Rojas is whether his defense in center outweighs his .235 batting average.
It may or may not be significant, but Brandon Marsh started in center against the Orioles Sunday.
Turner was hitting .343 with an .852 OPS when he strained his left hamstring on May 3. At the time he was expected to miss about six weeks, which turned out to be pretty close.
“I think he could have been back sooner if he’d gone on a rehab (assignment), but it is what it is,” Thomson said. “He probably would have been playing quicker because of the fact you’re not being tested in a game means we have to do more things here and it takes more days to get that done.”
The manager added that he has no idea if Turner will be able to pick up where he left off offensively.
“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “He goes to the World Baseball Classic last year basically without any at bats. And he kills it. So I don’t know what to expect really.”
The return of Turner also means that Edmundo Sosa will return to his role as a utility infielder. But he filled in so proficiently that, in order to keep him in the lineup as much as possible, he’ll start taking some fly balls in the outfield.
“If he’s not playing every day, there’s nothing wrong with getting him some outfield work just to see what it looks like. Just get him comfortable,” Thomson said.
Read the full article here