This was initially going to be a piece on trade targets, but that article went to the back burner when it was announced early Monday afternoon that shortstop Trea Turner had accepted an 11-year/$300 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

While losing Turner is a significant blow to the Dodgers pursuit of the 2023 World Championship, there is confidence that Dodgers General Manager Brandon Gomes – and his boss, Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman – will find a way to retool their roster. After all, that’s why they are paid the big bucks.

But Turner leaving for another team is a painful reminder that homegrown shortstop Corey Seager also left for greener pastures (Texas Rangers) a little over one year earlier (November 29, 2021).

The Dodgers are a respected, well-run, large-market team with exceptional revenue streams. Yet, in the last 12+ months, two elite shortstops have gone elsewhere to play Major League Baseball.

For any (every) Dodgers fan, this is tough to accept.

Are there player issues with the team’s game strategies and tactics being heavily influenced by statistical analyses rather than baseball acumen?

Are there flaws in the Dodgers’ algorithms that under-value players? Is the team’s reluctance to negotiate long term contracts with young, deserving, star players a failed strategy?

Perhaps the decisionmakers should pay more attention to their leader’s axiom:

Woulda, coulda, shoulda doesn’t help now, but hopefully the Dodgers leadership asks some hard questions about losing these shortstops rather than continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Let’s go Dodgers!

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Editor’s Note:

During his Zoom media conference on Monday afternoon, SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson Asked Friedman who the Dodgers shortstop would be in 2023, with Trea Turner having signed his mammoth contract with the Philadelphia Phillies earlier in the day:

“We feel really good that Gavin Lux can be a big part of what we do this year; and whether that’s playing second, playing short, we’ll see as things unfold here. But we feel good about not just the guys we have, but also the talent that’s on the market right now.”

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