Phillies should move Trea Turner to left field and keep Edmundo Sosa at shortstop. He’s just better.

Trea Turner is a bad shortstop. Demonstrably bad. Analytically bad. Empirically bad.

Edmundo Sosa is an excellent shortstop. Entering this weekend’s series in Baltimore, he has 95th-percentile range, a strong arm, and, unlike Turner, uncanny instincts. He can hit a bit, too.

Sosa has done everything to earn the Phillies’ starting shortstop job. Turner has done everything to lose it.

Turner was the second-worst defensive shortstop in the major leagues in 2023, according to Baseball Savant. He was, at times, the absolute worst shortstop in the major leagues in 2022. He spent this spring working on his defensive shortcomings, and he improved over 2023; he now merely is well below average, matching his 2022 performance level.

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Frankly, he hasn’t been very good for the last five years.

Look, I like Turner. I think he’s a valuable player.

But Turner should not be playing shortstop. Not on a team with one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. Not on a team with championship aspirations.

When Turner returns to the Phillies lineup, he should not be at shortstop. He should be in left field.

Sosa, heretofore a bench player and utility man but always an elite defensive shortstop, should be playing shortstop every day, if not more.

Sosa replaced Turner when Turner was sidelined May 3 with a strained left hamstring. In his 30 games he has proven to be the best shortstop the Phillies have had since Jimmy Rollins, who is the best shortstop the Phillies ever had.

Sound crazy?

Hear me out.

Turner can play the outfield. He played 45 games in center field in 2016.

Turner has speed. He remains one of the 20 fastest men in baseball, according to Baseball Savant.

Turner does not have a very strong arm, but then, left field is where you put your weak-armed outfielders.

Turner has mainly played shortstop his whole life, so being on the left side of the outfield would be an easier adjustment than putting him in right field, or center.

Infielders move to the outfield all the time. At least, good ones do.

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Brewers shortstop Robin Yount won a second AL MVP award in 1989 after his move to center. Chipper Jones won his 1999 NL MVP as a third baseman but played 365 (about 15%) of his games in the outfield. Mookie Betts won his 2018 MVP and his six Gold Gloves as an outfielder, but he was drafted as a middle infielder and has played nearly 200 big-league games at second or short.

Maybe it’s unfair to assume that Turner has the athletic ability of these three Hall of Famers (Betts will be a first-ballot inductee; he has long been baseball’s best position player). But if your argument is that he’s not a good enough athlete to play left field, understand that you always put your best athlete at shortstop … which is all the more reason to keep Turner off the 6.

If there was no Sosa, this would matter less. The Phillies were always willing to live with a net-minus on the left side; when they signed him to an 11-year, $300 million deal in 2022, the Phillies knew Turner had the hands and range of Mike Schmidt’s statue.

This is less about minimizing Turner’s defense than it is about maximizing Sosa’s presence.

He’s hitting .284 with an .861 OPS. This is no fluke. Since landing in Philly via trade in 2022, Sosa is hitting .267 with a .782 OPS.

And he can flat-out pick it — he ranks seventh among shortstops in fielding run value at plus-4. Turner is 23rd, at minus-1.

This decision is such a no-brainer, even I can see its logic.

What about the rest of the lineup?

Well, the Phillies have already discussed replacing their left field platoon of Brandon Marsh and Cristian Pache/Whit Merrifield … with Sosa. Who has never played in the outfield.

Sosa, 28, has been an in-game replacement four times in six big-league years (he missed 2020 with COVID-19). He played outfield once in the minors.

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Neither Turner not Sosa nor would be as good in left field as Marsh or Pache, who are superb. Either could surely do it; after all, Pat Burrell and Greg Luzinski did it.

But why would you weaken yourself at shortstop, which is a much more important position?

It won’t happen.

Not soon, anyway.

Not the way baseball defers to veteran royalty, and Turner is firmly entrenched among the Phillies’ clubhouse bros.

Turner also is in the second season of his deal. He turns 31 on June 30, so the argument that age is catching up with him falls flat. Derek Jeter won all five of his Gold Gloves after he turned 30.

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Finally, Turner likes playing shortstop. And, as we saw, pre-ovation, in 2023, he’s sort of fragile, so the Phillies aren’t likely to risk upsetting him.

My solution probably won’t immediately gain traction … at least, not until Turner again leads his position in errors, as he did last season, with 23. He probably won’t lead the majors in E’s this season, since he’s missed so many games — but then, he already has four errors. And he was on pace for 20 errors when he got hurt.

And he is among the worst shortstops in baseball.