Trea Turner (2B, WAS) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ team leagues

OWNED IN: 24% of Fleaflicker leagues

ANALYSIS: Trea Turner is back in the big leagues and it appears that this time he is here to stay. That said, his playing time is very much up in the air. Turner has been playing center field of late at Triple-A, and that should help him get more at bats, as he can also play SS and 2B. That said, he will not be starting at any of those positions and appears to be nothing more than a bench bat at the moment.

Many fake-gamers (inlcuding myself)  hoped that Turner would start at 2B and that Daniel Murphy would slide over to 1B with the injury to Ryan Zimmerman, but Dusty Baker squashed those hopes before they could even get off of the ground. On July 8, Baker said that Clint Robinson will receive most of the playing time at first base while Ryan Zimmerman is out and added that, "this is not a try-out camp." Woof. That doesn't bode well for Turner as a fantasy asset this season unless there is another injury to a middle infielder or an outfielder. While Turner has a rather large upside to go with his rock solid fantasy floor, it may be awhile before he gets the opportunity to display his talents on a regular basis. And that is coming from a person that was driving the Trea Turner bandwagon early on in the season.

I had shares of Turner in nearly half of my leagues, but dropped all of my redraft shares and jumped off of said bandwagon when he didn't play and then was sent back down. For me personally the writing on the wall was there, and Dusty baker made it apparent that he wasn't going to give the talented twenty-three year a chance just yet unless he had to. While Turner has the skills to be a force in the real and fake games he doesn't currently have the role to put them to use. Turner is a great lottery ticket stash if you have the bench space, and he's an intriguing add in deeper leagues (especially those with 5 OF positions) but unfortunately that's all he is for now on a club led by veteran loving manager Dusty Baker.