SAN DIEGO — John Middleton spent Sunday afternoon where he spends many Sunday afternoons during the fall. He sat with his wife Leigh next to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie in the executive suite at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. As the Eagles imposed their will on the Tennessee Titans, those in the stands near Middleton and Lurie took notice. There were a few vocal fans who had a message. They transmitted it whenever there was a pause in the plot.
“Sign Trea Turner!” they kept yelling at Middleton.
No one knew the Phillies were 24 hours away from agreeing an 11-year, $300 million deal with the star shortstop. As Middleton watched the Eagles, few knew that the Phillies and Turner’s camp had already exchanged offers over the weekend. A small circle within the Phillies organization had been pondering this moment for months – long before the team caught the attention of the entire baseball world.
Turner was the shortstop they wanted.
On Monday morning, exactly a month ago, their unexpected postseason run ended in a Game 6 loss to the Houston Astros in the World Series, Dave Dombrowski contacted Middleton. The veteran baseball exec was here, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, for the sport’s annual winter meetings. According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Dombrowski had received enough credible information to know the following: The Phillies were not the winning bidder for Turner. The two sides had a chasm to bridge, and even then, the guaranteed dollars offered by another team would not be enough.
This team, as several sources later revealed than the San Diego Padres, had a vested interest; They had met Turner twice and were armed with an aggressive owner and general manager. San Diego’s involvement has prompted Turner’s CAA Sports agent Jeff Berry to contact other clubs asking for offers a few days before the winter meetings. Turner’s market had accelerated.
But the Phillies and Turners camp had been transparent throughout the process. Dombrowski, the president of the club’s baseball division, had flown to Florida with general manager Sam Fuld and manager Rob Thomson before Thanksgiving to meet with Turner and his wife Kristen. Turner was impressed. He has a close relationship with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long. He had been teammates in Washington with Bryce Harper, who had begun lobbying senior Phillies officials to sign Turner over the summer.
Turner’s camp may never have said it out loud. But indirectly, the Phillies believed they were always Turner’s first pick. Kristen is from Flemington, NJ. The Turners now live in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and prefer an East Coast team. The Phillies had a limit on how much they would offer, but there was enough momentum in the talks to know a match was possible — even if they were outbid.
The Phillies were reluctant to extend to $300 million until Monday morning. Dombrowski met Berry and presented a new offer. It was one of the greatest in baseball history for a midfielder. It would see Turner, 29, through his season at the age of 40. It was both preposterous and sensible for a franchise that wandered in the desert for a decade, only to have a magical October that morphed into a bittersweet November this year.
When the Phillies went up to $300 million, they had a deal on the tempting shortstop. They had the man they wanted all along.
“That’s what it’s like to be a Philadelphia Phillie under John Middleton and Dave Dombrowski,” Harper told The Athletic shortly after news of Turner’s contract broke. “They are determined to win. I’m so excited to welcome Trea and his family to such a great team, such a great city and such a great fan base. Such a special talent.”
Bryce Harper and Trea Turner, the Phillies’ $300 million men, with Washington in 2018. (Nick Wass/Associated Press)
The Phillies have spent weeks meeting with players and agents and updating them on what’s happening in Philadelphia. A common theme emerged from these chats.
“The energy, the noise, the excitement,” Dombrowski said. “Everyone mentioned it. Not just one. The excitement is very high.”
“I think it’s one of the first things to be dealt with,” Fuld said. “Some people have used the phrase, ‘You can feel it through the TV.’ Most of the guys we spoke to were in front of the TV during the playoffs.”
The Phillies wanted to capitalize on those feelings. Turner left money on the table, according to multiple sources. The actual terms of the Padres’ final offer were unclear. California has a higher income tax rate, but San Diego’s offer was deemed significant enough to offset this.
Now the Phillies have signed the two longest free-agent contracts in MLB history. They consider this a design, not a bug. Turner’s annual median of $27.3 million is high, but it’s manageable. The Phillies will commit less to their double-play tandem — Turner and Bryson Stott — in 2023 than they did to Jean Segura and Didi Gregorius in 2022. That’s a win in the short term.
There are no illusions about the final years of Turner’s deal. As part of the various exercises to rank free-agent shortstops, Phillies officials discussed how long each could remain in that premium position. They didn’t always reach consensus, but in Turner’s case, the team believe he can remain a shortstop between five and eight years. If it’s six, the Phillies will be happy. The value of this contract is in the early seasons, and that’s why they pounced.
Turner’s contract, which sources say includes a full no-trade clause and no opt-outs, follows a similar pattern to the 13-year, $330 million deal Harper signed in 2019. The Phillies will be worried about the 2030s when they get there. Is it an irresponsible organizational philosophy? Maybe. But Dombrowski knows how to convince billionaires how to spend their money. He believes that star player accumulation correlates with success.
“Everyone has different philosophies, but I would say that I really believe that you win with star players,” Dombrowski said on Monday. “You can’t win with star players alone anymore, but you can build around star players. I really always had that belief.”
It was a rare opportunity, Dombrowski admitted, but did not formally comment on Turner’s agreement pending an investigation, which is scheduled for later this week. The Phillies had a clear position to advance after the trade close this summer: shortstop. And by a stroke of luck, there were four above-average free agents in that position.
The Phillies spent months evaluating this free-agent shortstop class. Turner was her first choice. (Dale Zanine / USA Today)
The Phillies diverted one of their professional scouts during the season and given him an important job: watch all four upcoming free-agent shortstops. They had their analysis team thoroughly examine all four players. The team’s evaluators met at Citizens Bank Park after the World Series and decided on a ranking.
Sources say Turner was the team’s top pick — even though his commitment meant giving up two draft picks (second and fifth rounds) and $1 million in international bonus money after receiving a qualifying offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Carlos Correa, who was not involved in those penalties, was the second pick. There wasn’t much separating the two, although the Phillies had some concerns about Correa’s history of lower back injuries.
The Phillies had Xander Bogaerts as their third pick and Dansby Swanson as their fourth pick. But there was a big gap in the Phillies’ ratings between the top two shortstops and the last two. The team met with all four – Turner first, Swanson last week in Georgia and Correa and Bogaerts last weekend in California. The Phillies decided after the in-person interviews that their original rankings were correct.
Long and Harper had pitched to the front office about Turner — who he was as a player, teammate and person — in August. Kyle Schwarber, also a former Turner teammate, also shared feedback. The Phillies had enough input from people they trusted to know how Turner would fit into the clubhouse.
This helped formulate the Phillies’ background work on Turner. When Dombrowski, Fuld and Thomson met with family in Florida last month, they delivered a care package that included jerseys for Kristen and Beckham, their 21-month-old son. The Phillies contingent described the atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park during the final postseason run. Turner, who won a World Series with the Washington Nationals, is no stranger to high-stakes baseball. Phillies officials tried to explain that it was an incomparable feeling.
It was worth chasing after.
The Phillies celebrate after defeating the San Diego Padres in the NLCS. (Eric Hartline / USA Today)
This has extended to Phillies ownership, which is set to rack up the highest payroll in franchise history next season. The Phillies could lead a $250 million roster in AAV. There are more penalties for a team exceeding $253 million in payroll, and the Phillies may not make it that far. Then again, they never paid luxury tax until last season, and now they have a $300 million shortstop on top of that.
The Phillies aren’t done yet. They’re looking for a mid-rotation starter — not Carlos Rodón, or even Chris Bassitt or Nate Eovaldi, because they’re all tied to qualifying offers. There are decent alternatives to add to the rotation. Then the Phillies pluck a setup man or a couple of center helpers from a large pool of available free-agent bullpen-arms.
The heaviest lift is performed. Under Dombrowski, the Phillies have prioritized improvements in midfield. They signed JT Realmuto in 2021 for the most lucrative deal ever for a catcher. At this year’s trade deadline, they listed their best shot as a young center fielder, Brandon Marsh. You can move Stott, a first-round draft pick from the previous regime, to second base where he excels as a defender.
But Turner, as exciting a player as he is in baseball, could be the most compelling addition yet. The Phillies were unbeatable.
“You really want to know the players inside and out,” Dombrowski said. “They want to make sure the person fits our ball club, our market. Hopefully they leave no stone unturned when making decisions like this.”
— Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of The Athletic contributed to this report.
(Top Photo: Michael Owens/Getty Images)