On Tuesday morning, longtime loyal ThinkBlueLA.com follower Jalex posted this YouTube video on the site featuring popular Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner that is very much worth your time to watch:

Jalex prefaced his YouTube link by saying that he does not believe that the 29-year-old Boynton Beach, FL native and first round draft pick in 2014 by the San Diego Padres out of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC will be returning to the Dodgers in 2023 and beyond – an opinion shared by a good many Dodgers fans.

During his end-of-season press conference back on October 17, Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman told reporters that he and his staff had not even begun to address the many personnel matters facing the team after their painful and premature exit from the 2022 postseason. However, on Monday morning, November 7, the Dodgers top executive told Dodgers beat writer Juan Toribio that things were beginning to happen with regards to their 21 free agents and 12 arbitration-eligible players. And even though Friedman did not specifically address Trea Turner, he did address the other Turner, 37-year-old Dodgers third baseman/designated hitter Justin Turner. Not definitively, but certainly optimistically.

“He is a priority for us in terms of him being with us,” Friedman said, of his team’s unofficial captain and now free agent third baseman/DH. “The priority is that when we show up in Glendale (AZ), for him to be a part of what we’re doing next year. What exactly that looks like, we need time to work through.”

But wait… There’s more!

Arguably the biggest free agent Friedman and the Dodgers must deal with this off-season is 34-year-old/14-year MLB veteran and future Hall of Fame left-hander Clayton Kershaw, to which Friedman had this to say:

“Things just feel more right in the world when Kershaw is wearing a Dodgers uniform,” Friedman said. “That’s just how it lands with us but couldn’t respect more that him and Ellen are going through this process. It’s definitely a real priority for us and hopeful he will be with us in Glendale.”

Although pure speculation at this point, many within the organization – and within all of baseball – believe that if Kershaw does indeed choose to return for a 15th season in 2023, it will be in a Dodgers uniform … or he will retire from the game and await his first-ballot induction into the sacred Halls of Cooperstown five years from now.

But getting back to Trea Turner, will Trea stay?

Stay tuned…

Play Ball!

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