BALTIMORE — The Phillies expect Trea Turner to be activated off the 10-day injured list on Monday, manager Rob Thomson announced on Sunday afternoon. Turner has been on the IL since May 4 with a right hamstring strain. The Phillies initially predicted he would miss about six weeks, and as of now, he’ll return six weeks and two days after his injury.
Thomson said the Phillies have decided on a corresponding move, which the team will announce when Turner is activated. There is no obvious solution for which player should be sent down, but Thomson said that these are good problems to have.
Cristian Pache and Johan Rojas profile similarly, and each has hit a skid offensively of late. Pache, who had gotten only 29 at-bats over his last 15 games through Saturday, was batting .207/.258/.310 over that span. Entering Sunday, Rojas was batting .235/.271/.295 through 183 at-bats with a .566 OPS this season.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that Rojas has options and Pache does not. We will find out more on Monday.
Brandon Marsh played a game in center field during his rehab assignment earlier this week. When asked if he’d be open to moving Marsh back there, Thomson said he would.
“Yeah, [I would consider it],” Thomson said. “Right now we have Rojas and Pache, but I view [Marsh] as a center fielder as well.”
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Edmundo Sosa could get some reps in the outfield, too.
Turner hit in the cage on Sunday as part of a recovery day. It’s hard to know exactly what to expect from him offensively when he returns. Turner was one of the Phillies’ most consistent hitters when he went down in early May. He has hit .343/.392/.460 through 33 games this season.
“It’s hard to tell,” Thomson said. “He goes to the WBC last year and he basically had no at-bats [before] and he kills it. So I don’t know what to expect.”
