Will the 2023 Phillies lineup be one of the best in team history? Larry Bowa thinks there’s a chance.

SAN DIEGO — Shortly after Larry Bowa learned Trea Turner would be under contract with the Phillies through 2034, he pulled out a notepad. He had some thoughts — lineup thoughts — so he began to scribble.

With a player as versatile as Turner, who agreed to an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Phillies on Monday, the possibilities were endless. He started by putting him at the top, where he has batted the most in his eight-year career, slashing .303/.353/.488. Then he moved him into the two-hole (.305/.359/.493 in his career), and then the three-hole (.311/.367/.510), and penciled Kyle Schwarber into the leadoff spot, which is where he prefers to hit.

That looked pretty solid, until Bowa got to the bottom of the lineup. If Schwarber hit leadoff, that would be three straight lefties, assuming Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott batted in the eighth and ninth spots.

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So he went back to the drawing board. Maybe Turner at the top makes more sense, he thought, to break up Stott and Marsh. Schwarber could be moved to the middle. Or maybe Alec Bohm moves further down, to add a right-handed bat to the mix.

As he looked through all of his different iterations of what is bound to be a potent lineup — regardless of how it is organized — he let out a chuckle.

“These are good problems for a manager to have,” he said.

Bowa would know. He served as Phillies manager from 2001-04. He had plenty of enticing hitters at his disposal — Jimmy Rollins, Jim Thome, and Bobby Abreu, to name a few — and spent his days shuffling, and reshuffling, and then shuffling again.

The five-time All-Star shortstop, who is now a senior adviser for the Phillies, spent 12 of his 16 seasons as a player with the organization. He went to the postseason six times over that span, and was a member of the 1980 World Series-winning club. Bowa has seen a lot of good lineups, but he believes that the 2023 Phillies’ could go down as one of the best in team history.

“It ranks up there, no question,” he said. “You look at the two teams that won the World Series — the 1980 team and the 2008 team — and they were very deep, also. But this lineup could go head-to-head with those lineups, there’s no doubt about it.”

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When Bowa looks back on those two teams, he can clearly see the difference-makers, the players who were acquired within a window of contention and helped push the Phillies to a World Series title. On the 1980 team, it was Pete Rose. On the 2008 team, it was Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth. And on the 2023 team, Bowa believes it could be Trea Turner.

Turner, who hit 49 home runs and stole 59 bases over the last two seasons, brings speed and power but also consistency. He is a lifetime .302 hitter, which Bowa believes could take some pressure off the other hitters.

“I think when you look at our lineup, especially when [Bryce] Harper comes back [from Tommy John surgery], you could have two or three of those guys go cold and we have enough offense where other guys could pick them up,” he said. “When a guy hits .300 for most of the year, there’s not too many slumps he goes into. That consistency is huge. This guy is pretty steady. He gives you good at-bats.

“I feel that this team could be very difficult to pitch to, one through nine. When you’ve got Stott, and Marsh and maybe Bohm down at the bottom, there’s no break. You can’t take a deep breath if you’re a pitcher. And you’ve got to figure that the three guys I just mentioned, they’re still young, they’re going to improve as they go. And [Rhys] Hoskins, even though he’s streaky, when he gets hot, he goes on a tear. And I think [Nick] Castellanos is going to have a bounce-back year.”

Bowa knows that what looks good on paper doesn’t always translate to the field. But for now, he’s content to keep scribbling until the spring, when he’ll finally get to see the 2023 Phillies — and Turner — in action.

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“He gives you some versatility,” Bowa said. “You could hit Turner at the top, you could leave Schwarber at the top, you could hit Turner second or third. But knowing [manager Rob] Thomson, he’ll have a consistent lineup, especially the first five or six hitters. So, that’s going to be a decision he has to make.

“But put it this way: If you’re the manager, those are the types of decisions you like.”