At that point, it became very clear that the Red Sox preferred to rotate the DH spot instead of giving those at-bats to one defensively limited player like they did for years by employing Ortiz, then J.D. Martinez, and eventually Turner. And that, despite Turner repeatedly stating that he wanted to come back to Boston — and even extending his lease well into the offseason so he and his wife, Kourtney, could keep exploring the city instead of going home to Los Angeles — all but ruled out a potential reunion.
Turner played 395 ⅓ innings in the field last year, spelling Triston Casas against lefties at first base, backing up Rafael Devers at third and even seeing a handful of games at second base before a nagging heel injury (bone bruise) limited him almost exclusively to DH down the stretch. As expected at age 38, Turner didn’t provide much defensively. For a Red Sox team focused on being better in that part of the game next season, having him play a significant number of innings in the field didn’t make much sense.
Now, barring an addition of someone like Jorge Soler or Adam Duvall (who both remain free agents), the Red Sox appear willing to mix and match in the DH spot on a daily basis. The defensively limited Masataka Yoshida seems like a candidate to get a good amount of at-bats there with Tyler O’Neill, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Rob Refsnyder and (eventually) Ceddanne Rafaela in the outfield mix. Devers could get some time off his feet there, too, with Pablo Reyes or Bobby Dalbec serving as the backup third baseman. The Red Sox could still benefit from adding someone who’s capable of smashing lefties and playing first base; Duvall is a fit, assuming they feel comfortable with him in the infield, though Garrett
