Padres Minors: Trea Turner Countdown

While the San Diego Padres continue to ponder options at shortstop, including a rumor that they are going after another TT shortstop in Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki, their #1 draft pick from 2014 is hitting well in AA and hit his fourth homer of the season this past weekend.

Problem is in one month Trea Turner will no longer be a San Diego Padre.

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As you probably remember, Turner was part of the deal that brought Wil Myers to the Padres in a three player trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals. As Jeff Sanders reports, Turner was the last piece going from the Padres to the Nationals, but because of an old rule could not go to his new team until June 13th of this year. That outdated rule has since been fixed but it has led to this weird limbo where Turner is playing two months for the Padres and while knowing he is no longer a Padre at the same time.

Turner skipped the California League and went straight to Double-A to start his year and he is responding well to the challenge. He hit his fourth homer of the season as well as singled, stole a base, and scored 2 runs in the San Antonio Missions 5-3 victory. He is now hitting .324 on the season.

The problem with trades is, understanding how to gauge them. Sure, most would say that the Padres overall would prefer Anthony Rizzo‘s powerful bat in their lineup than the pitching that Andrew Cashner brings to the mound; or analyze a slew of other trades made over time. Yet I think in most cases you have to just make a decision and live with it. Wil Myers is off to a good start to this season, and even if Trea Turner turns into the next Cal Ripken Jr., we as fans have to understand and hope that Rays/Royals fans will be asking themselves the same questions about Wil Myers and why they let him go.

In other minor league news, Rymer Liriano hit his fourth homer for AAA El Paso while Tommy Medica and Alex Dickerson had two hits each. Dickerson is hitting .317. Jason Lane threw 7 innings of one run baseball in the tough 2-1 loss. There is still talent on the farm.

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