Phillies' Dombrowski Declares Trea Turner's Shortstop Performance 'Mandatory' Improvement

Philadelphia Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski has issued a clear directive to star shortstop Trea Turner: his defensive performance must improve significantly, calling it "mandatory." Dombrowski's comments come after the Phillies' early exit from the postseason and mark the first time the executive has spoken publicly about Turner's performance since the team's season concluded.

"From a defensive perspective, we are very clear. He knows he has to be better at shortstop. And I told him that it’s really mandatory that he’s like that," Dombrowski stated Thursday. He added that Turner understands the situation, acknowledging that his performance in the 2026 season was unacceptable for a shortstop.

Dombrowski expressed a cautious outlook on Turner retaining the starting shortstop position for the Opening Day of the 2027 season. "At this point, but we’ll see what happens," he said. "It’s up to him to show us he can do it and we’ll see — we’ll have fallback opportunities and some of them may come back for the young players we have."

Turner, who is in the midst of an 11-year, $300 million contract, has shown inconsistency at the premium defensive position. After struggling in his first two seasons with the Phillies in 2023 and 2024, where he posted negative metrics in outs above average (OAA) and defensive runs saved (DRS), Turner saw a marked improvement in 2025 with positive DRS and OAA figures.

However, this upward trend was short-lived. In the 2026 season, Turner regressed to minus-17 DRS and minus-8 OAA, committing 21 errors. In response to these defensive shortcomings, the Phillies recently dismissed infield coach Bobby Dickerson.

Dombrowski confirmed he met with Turner for an extensive discussion about his performance. The team has provided Turner with resources and guidance, including the involvement of new third base coach Carlos Mendoza, formerly of the Mets, to assist him.

Despite his defensive struggles, Turner has experience playing in the outfield, but the organization is giving him an opportunity to prove he can remain at shortstop. "He is very willing to do — if he doesn’t play shortstop — to do what is best for the Philadelphia Phillies organization," Dombrowski said of the veteran player. "So, that’s how we left it with him and he’s determined to show us he can play it and I said, You have to show it. You cannot play shortstop like he did defensively in ’26 going into ’27."

Dombrowski also acknowledged Turner's own assessment of his performance, noting that the shortstop "does not think he had a good season offensively or defensively." Turner experienced career lows in several offensive categories in 2026, including batting average (.242), on-base percentage (.297), slugging percentage (.378), and OPS (.675). This marked a significant drop from his fifth-place finish in MVP voting in 2025, when he recorded an .812 OPS.

"Trea takes completely accountability on that and is already working on his swing, and I’ve told him to kind of slow down, you don’t have to do it that quickly, make sure he gets with some people," Dombrowski commented. "I think Trea still has his fast-twitch muscles, he did not have a good year but I think he can bounce back from an offensive perspective, he needs to fix things with his swing."