Bryce Harper moving back to RF to clear up Phillies' infield glut from Luis Arráez trade; Trea Turner staying put at SS despite struggles

The Philadelphia Phillies have one too many infieldersfollowing Monday’s acquisition of second baseman Luis Arráez from the San Francisco Giants.

>So Bryce Harper’s moving back to a familiar spot. Manager Don Mattingly told reporters Monday that Harper will move from first base back to his former position in right field to make room for Arráez.

>Alec Bohm will move from third base to first, Bryson Stott will move from second base to third and Arráez will slot in at second base for his Phillies debut on Tuesday.

>Trea Turner, who’s in the midst of the worst defensive campaign of his career, is the only Phillies infielder staying put. He’ll remain at shortstop.

Tommy John forced Harper from RF to 1BHarper, 33, played the first 11 seasons of his MLB career primarily in the outfield. He underwent offseason Tommy John surgery after the 2022 season and has played at first base or designated hitter since.

>Harper’s throwing arm is apparently in good enough shape for him to move back to the outfield, and, per Mattingly, he volunteered to move back to right field to make room for Arráez. Mattingly credited Harper’s willingness to change positions as “key” to the Arráez trade.

>“Harp had already kind of talked — we had to make sure Harp was serious about playing the outfield,” Mattingly said. “I think that was kind of the key to doing anything.”

>Mattingly told reporters that Harper would “ease” back into the outfield. What that means in practice isn’t clear.

Trea Turner staying at SS despite strugglesPer Mattingly, there were “zero” conversations about moving Turner from his position at shortstop.

>Turner’s struggled in the field this season with 18 errors in 106 games, the second most in baseball as of Monday. He’s on pace to easily surpass his career high of 23 errors in a full season set in 2023, when he led MLB in errors.

>And he’s gotten away with several botched plays that could have been ruled errors, most notably in a July 20 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers when only one of his four miscues in the field was ruled an error by the official scorer in Philadelphia.

>Fortunately for Turner and the Phillies that night, he made up for it at the plate with two home runs to lead Philadelphia to a 10-7 win.

>Turner’s track record doesn’t suggest a turnaround on defense. Maybe the Phillies decided it was best to keep him where he is than have him struggle to learn a new position late in the season.

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