Trea Turner’s professional baseball career turned one year old on Sunday. As a gift, the former Wolfpacker finally got the long-awaited trip he’d been promised for the past six months.
On Sunday, Trea Turner finally and officially became what everyone everywhere already knew he was going to be…the player to be named later in the now infamous three team deal last December involving San Diego, the team that made him their 13th overall pick in last June’s draft; the Washington Nationals and the Tampa Bay Rays.
For Turner, the bottom line is that he was finally able to pack his bags and book his itinerary from San Antonio (Padres’ AA affiliate) to his destination in Harrisburg (Nationals’ AA affiliate). He exits the AA Texas league at #3 in both batting avg. (.322) and RBI’s (35), and #6 in slgpct (.471). If he keeps up that sort of production, he could be in Syracuse (Nats’ AAA affiliate) in very short order.
Depending upon what happens with Ian Desmond, including his contract negotiations, Turner might find himself with the big club in the capital city sooner rather than later.
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And in spite of all the teeth gnashing that came from red clad keyboard warriors in the months since the trade and Turner’s fate within it became public last December, both the Nats and Turner himself have had nothing but glowing praise for how he was treated by San Diego’s front office in the interim since becoming essentially a lame duck of sorts in their organization.
Nationals finally complete trade for Trea Turner (WashingtonPost.com)
“We’ve had guys going in there to scout him periodically,” [Nats’ GM Mike] Rizzo said. “We made an assignment for several of our professional scouts to make their way through San Antonio to see him play. We had evaluated him throughout the process and the Padres handled the situation perfectly. They treated him like the prospect that he is. I give him a lot of credit for not hindering his progress and his development by treating him just like any other prospect would be. My hats off to those guys. That was something that we discussed when we made the trade and they’ve done everything that we expected of him and they did things that we really in the best interest of Trea.”
— Trea Turner (@treavturner) June 14, 2015
And though he didn’t set out to do so, Turner now has a rule named after himself, which in essence modifies but doesn’t exactly overturn the “Incaviglia Rule”, which is what kept him in the SD organization until yesterday.
The rule was amended Wednesday and teams were notified this week, according to one source. Players from the most recent draft can now be traded beginning the day after the World Series, a change from the old rule, which said they couldn’t be dealt until a year after they signed.
[snip]
But by the old rules, Turner couldn’t be dealt until June 13 of this year – the anniversary of the day he signed. So the Nationals and Padres agreed to make him a “player to be named later.” Thus, Turner spent this spring at the Padres’ complex in Peoria, Ariz., working out with players who won’t be his teammates later this summer and playing for coaches who won’t be instructing him as his career takes off.
[snip]
The new rule also provides that players in the most recent draft cannot be used as players to be named later during the summer after they’re drafted. They must remain with the club that drafted them until the day after the World Series.
Of course, we all wish Trea the best and we’re very happy to have him back on the right coast. Within easy driving distance.
Which kinda makes me sound like a stalker, I guess.
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