As Trea Turner struggles, here’s how other notable free agents fared early in their Phillies careers

Two months into his first season with the Phillies, Trea Turner has “[stunk],” to clean up his candid self-assessment. But we’re here this week with a reminder that things could always be worse.

Turner could be Danny Tartabull.

An All-Star with the Royals and 30-homer slugger with the Yankees, Tartabull signed as a free agent for $2 million in the spring of 1997 and promised to deliver the Phillies a “Danny Tartabull type of season,” which he defined as “100 RBI and 25 to 35 home runs.”

Instead, he fouled off a pitch and fractured his left foot on opening day. His season — and Phillies career — lasted three games. He went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts.

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Turner will play his 50th game for the Phillies on Friday night in Atlanta. And even after his game-tying, confidence-inspiring home run Wednesday, the numbers were gory: .244 average, .288 on-base percentage, .383 slugging, 10 doubles, five homers, 13 walks, and — here’s the kicker — 58 strikeouts in 222 plate appearances.

The $300 million shortstop’s biggest problem is textbook for stars who switch teams in the offseason. Turner is swinging at more pitches out of the strike zone. Through Thursday, his chase rate (42.2%) and overall swing rate (53.7%) were up from his career norms (31.3%, 47.3%). As a result, his strikeout rate jumped to 26.1% from his 18.5% career mark.

“The swing’s felt good for two, three weeks now. Just the decision-making’s pretty hit or miss,” Turner said. “I feel like when you’re going good, you don’t think about any of those things. You just kind of hit and react.”

Kyle Schwarber eventually got there last season and led the league with 46 homers. But not before dragging a .183 average, .288 on-base percentage, and 47 strikeouts in 126 plate appearances to the plate for a game in late May.

“It’s more just the psyche part of it all,” Schwarber said. “You’re coming into a new ... everything. You’re going to be here for a while. You want to make a good impression on your fan base, everyone. You have expectations for yourself and you want to live up to your own expectations. The biggest thing is the internal part of it all.”

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Club officials and teammates figure Turner will find his level. As Bryce Harper, familiar as anyone with sky-high expectations, rocky starts, and in-season about-faces, said this week: “He’s done it his whole career. He’s one of the best [players] that I’ve been able to be around. I have no doubt that he’s going to be Trea Turner.”

But Turner’s struggles got us thinking of other big-name free agents in Phillies history. Tartabull is the most extreme example of a flop. There have been plenty of successes and even a few bouncebacks. Let’s have a look back.

Year: 1979

Contract: Four years, $3.2 million

First 50 games: .351/.423/.474, 19 2B, 1 HR, 26 BB, 12 K

After three consecutive NLCS crushers, the Phillies thought Rose — nearly 38, with two World Series rings and more than 3,100 hits — was the missing piece and paid him more than any athlete in team sports. No pressure. He got three hits in the home opener, walked off the Dodgers on April 25 at the Vet, and instantly morphed from rival to revered.

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The city fell. Hard. Rose’s Q Score was unharmed even by a playoff miss in ‘79, the prelude to winning it all a year later.

“They boo the crack in the Liberty Bell, but if you’re a player, you want the fans to care,” Rose told The Inquirer in 2019. “I had it figured this way: Philly fans want two things. They want to win, which they should, and they want you to bust your [butt], which every player should do. They didn’t love me because I was good-looking. They loved me because of the way that I played.”

Year: 1995

Contract: Four years, $20 million

First 50 games: .262/.309/.403, 14 2B, 5 HR, 15 BB, 10 K

In pursuing Jefferies over Larry Walker (oops!) in free agency, the Phillies cited back-to-back All-Star seasons in St. Louis as reason to believe the 27-year-old was an ascending star. Instead, he was ... blah, batting .287/.340/.411 and never really catching on.

Injuries, including a thumb problem six weeks into the 1995 season, dogged Jefferies. His first real big moment came on Aug. 25, 1995, when he became the team’s first player in 32 years to hit for the cycle, but was dealt to the Angels four years later for a player to be named, an unceremonious end to an undistinguished tenure.

Year: 2003

Contract: Six years, $85 million

First 50 games: .257/.384/.492, 8 2B, 10 HR, 36 BB, 51 K

Things were looking up after eight losing seasons in nine years, but to be taken seriously, the Phillies needed star power. Thome stepped into that void in 2003. He led the majors with 47 home runs, finished fourth in the MVP voting, and brought legitimacy to an 86-win team.

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But Thome’s success wasn’t immediate. He tripled in the last home opener at the Vet, and went deep twice — granting a reluctant curtain call — in an April 9 blowout. Those were his only homers through 23 games, though. He was batting .227 with a .755 OPS on May 5. It wasn’t until a pair of game-tying dingers in a 13-inning victory over the Red Sox on June 20 that he took off.

Year: 2009

Contract: Three years, $31.5 million

First 50 games: .340/.399/.716, 13 2B, 19 HR, 19 BB, 32 K

It can’t be easy being The New Guy in the defending World Series champ’s lineup. Ibañez made it look seamless. He took Pat Burrell’s place in left field and blended into the middle of the order as though he’d been there for years. Oh, and he hit 22 of his 34 homers by the middle of June.

Ibañez’s first big moment: A two-run, game-winning homer on April 19 in the Phillies’ first victory after Harry Kalas’ death. After the game, Jayson Werth referred to Ibañez as “a pillar.” Pat who?

Year: 2018

Contract: Three years, $60 million

First 50 games: .207/.326/.430, 11 2B, 9 HR, 32 BB, 30 K

The fit never made much sense. The Phillies loved his on-base skills, and teammates hailed his leadership in the clubhouse. But his presence at first base prompted the Rhys Hoskins-to-left-field blunder. Santana never got hot, either, despite walking 110 times, and the Phillies traded him after one season for Jean Segura.

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Santana’s legacy: smashing a clubhouse TV amid a late-season collapse because some players were playing video games.

“It was a little hard for me because I played in Cleveland for so long,” Santana said a few years ago. “Everything was new for me — new team, new league, new staff, new players. It was a little bit to figure out and I was affected.”

Year: 2019

Contract: Three years, $50 million

First 50 games: .263/.383/.447, 12 2B, 7 HR, 37 BB, 48 K

For two months in 2019, McCutchen was as good a leadoff hitter as the Phillies have had in a decade. He led off with a homer on opening day, then won over fans by playing rock, paper, scissors with third base coach Dusty Wathan each time he went deep.

McCutchen had a .378 on-base percentage, second-highest by a Phillies leadoff man with at least 200 plate appearances since Lenny Dykstra in 1994, when he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee on June 3, ending his season. He returned the next year but wasn’t the same, leaving the Phillies to cycle through 13 leadoff hitters in 2020 and 2021.

Year: 2019

Contract: 13 years, $330 million

First 50 games: .235/.367/.454, 13 2B, 9 HR, 36 BB, 66 K

It’s easy to forget now that he’s the pennant-clinching prince of the city, but it took all of 29 games in 2019 for Phillies fans to give Harper a hard time. It happened in the eighth inning of a game on April 30, 2019, against the Tigers. A fly ball clanged off his glove for a two-base error before he swung through 98-mph heat to cap an 0-for-4, two-strikeout misery.

Boooooooo!

“I mean, I’d do the same thing,” Harper said then.

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Rock bottom came two weeks later, when Harper was batting .219 with a 30.9% strikeout rate. But things turned around.

Harper’s two signature moments: a two-run, game-winning double against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen on July 16, and the famous second-deck grand slam — and subsequent sprint around the bases — to beat the Cubs on Aug. 15.

Year: 2022

Contract: Four years, $79 million

First 50 games: .200/.322/.467, 6 2B, 14 HR, 31 BB, 66 K

Schwarber can’t pinpoint one hit that turned around his season. It was more like a collection of things in a spectacular June in which he slugged 12 homers, including a game-winning three-run shot June 26 in San Diego, and had a 1.065 OPS.

Looking back, Schwarber believes the team’s resurgence enabled him to relax. That may be what it takes for Turner.

“Once we started playing better and started winning, that was the biggest thing,” Schwarber said. “Was everything for myself maybe a little more magnified because we started slow? Sure. As the year gets going, it gets easier and easier to block all that other stuff out and just go out there and have fun and play baseball.”

Year: 2022

Contract: Five years, $100 million

First 50 games: .256/.311/.431, 13 2B, 7 HR, 14 BB, 51 K

It never got easier last season for Castellanos. There were stray highlights — a go-ahead two-run double in the 10th inning May 13 at Dodger Stadium; a decisive two-run homer Aug. 2 in Atlanta — but it wasn’t until this year that he has finally settled into his new setting and produced closer to his usual numbers.

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Will Turner be Castellanos 2.0?

Turner has assimilated with his new team. He’s comfortable around teammates (Harper and Schwarber) and coaches (hitting coach Kevin Long) whom he knew before he arrived. He just hasn’t played well.

“It’s just that consistency,” Turner said. “If I can have four or five good at-bats in a day and then for a week and then a month, then I’ll feel a little better, a little more satisfied.”

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