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Washington Nationals’ Trea Turner on the Nats’ World Series win, the Astros + more

Trea Turner talked to reporters on Tuesday about the hard work that went into the Nationals’ World Series win and getting together to do it again...

MLB: Washington Nationals-Workouts Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

There are plenty of Houston Astros’ sign-stealing hot takes going around these days, and a number of players sharing their thoughts on the lack of punishment for the Astros who did participate in the activities that were scrutinized by Major League Baseball.

Washington Nationals’ shortstop Trea Turner got an opportunity to share his thoughts on the subject on Tuesday afternoon in West Palm Beach, FL’s FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, the facility the Nats share with the Astros.

So what does Turner think of the big story of the offseason?

“I don’t care,” Turner said.

Amen.

“For me that’s on them,” the 26-year-old infielder added.

“They made decisions and they have consequences to deal with. For me, I like to focus on what’s in front of me, and I think we had a great year last year, but we’ve got a lot of baseball to play this Spring Training and going forward, so I’m focused on that and you guys can focus on whatever you guys want, but for me that’s in the past.”

That great year last year did include a World Series championship, with the five-year veteran going 17 for 73 in the Fall Classic (.233/.291/.329) after a .298/.353/.497, 37 double, 19 home run regular season, which ended with the shortstop at 3.5 fWAR in 122 games and 569 plate appearances.

Once the Nationals’ title run ended, Turner, who fractured the index finger on his right hand trying to get down a bunt early last season, had surgery to repair the damaged digit after a season spent swinging with nine fingers.

Hitting with ten fingers again this winter, Turner said at WinterFest last month, was a big change, but one that had him a little concerned.

“We’ll see how I play,” he joked. “I might go back to nine if I don’t like it, because I felt like last year went pretty good, but definitely in a much better spot than last year.”

Now that he’s at Spring Training, and preparing for the 2020 campaign, Turner said he was ready to move on from last season and get ready to do it again, with a number of the same faces that were on the championship roster back for another go-round.

“It’s great,” Turner said of all the returning players.

“I think we’ve just got a lot of good people in this clubhouse. It’s good seeing these guys, hanging out with these guys, I think that’s obviously what showed last year, was the team chemistry and how much we liked each other and how much fun we had, so to bring all these guys back together, as many as possible, I think it’s key.

“I think you want that core, you want that foundation to start the year, and I think we have that.”

Turner was also excited to see the Nationals’ World Series champions signage added to their half of the FITTEAM Ballpark.

“Dream come true,” he said of winning it all.

“It still feels a little weird, but every time I see a highlight, kind of relive the moment, relive the whole postseason and how crazy it was and how special that team was, and what we did, how we did it, I think the storyline is just unbelievable, and it’s nice to see all that hard work, not just for last year, but these guys played baseball for a long time and years and years and years of hard work all came together and now we’ve got a banner to prove it.”