If the universal DH is a rule whose time has come, Justin Turner is just glad it didn’t come sooner.

At age 37, the arrival of the designated hitter in the National League could help extend Turner’s career, giving him an avenue to stay in the lineup while saving some mileage on his occasionally troublesome knees.

At age 27, though, the absence of the DH in the National League gave Turner a path to a big-league career.

“I don’t think I’m standing right here today if there was a DH 10 years ago,” Turner said one afternoon in the Dodgers’ clubhouse. “I made my living as a utility infielder, pinch-hitting, coming in off the bench facing closers. I would say probably 90 percent of my decision to sign with the Dodgers over the Red Sox in ’14 – I don’t want to say 90 percent but a big part of the decision was the opportunity for bench players.

“You look at (Nick) Punto and Jerry Hairston (the Dodgers’ top bench players the year before Turner came to L.A.) and you see them with 250 at-bats. Then you look at the bench guys for the Red Sox at the time and they had like 80 at-bats.

“I definitely had mixed feelings (about the DH coming to the NL this year). Obviously, zoomed in to where I am right now, it’s beneficial to me. But when you kind of zoom out on my career, if there was a DH (in the National League) 10 years ago, I don’t know if I ever make it to the major leagues.”

Turner’s road to the big leagues was not a smooth one. The former Mayfair High and Cal State Fullerton standout went through three organizations (the Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets) before signing with the Dodgers as a non-roster invitee in spring 2014 and was almost 30 years old when he finally became a fixture in a major-league lineup.

A two-time All-Star now, Turner is in the final year of a two-year, $34 million contract with the Dodgers that includes a team option for 2023 (at $16 million). It’s an option the Dodgers are likely to exercise – even more so now that the DH spot is there in the lineup to be filled every day. Turner has started at DH a team-high eight times in the Dodgers’ first 18 games with Manager Dave Roberts primarily using a three-player rotation at the position (Turner, Max Muncy and Edwin Rios).

Even so, Turner is much closer to the end of his playing days than the beginning. But it is not something he cares to think about. “I don’t,” he says flatly when asked if he can see his career’s end date.

“I’m in a position where people ask me all the time, ‘How much longer do you want to play?’” Turner said. “I want to play as long as they let me.

“I want to play as long as someone wants me to play for them.”

When his playing career does eventually end, Turner will have another decision to make – what next? His knowledge of the game and status as a team leader in L.A. make him a good candidate to go into coaching or even manage a team someday. He certainly could forge a career in broadcasting. Deeply involved in the community through his Justin Turner Foundation and other charitable efforts, that could offer other potential post-career paths.

Turner doesn’t want to think about any of that now, though.

“I don’t want to start planning for it because that means I’m probably getting to the point where I’m open to it being over and I’m not there yet,” he said.

He will go only so far as to acknowledge that baseball will probably always be part of his life.

“Yeah. The game obviously is kind of embedded into me,” he said. “I think whenever it is that I take the cleats off there will be something in a role in the baseball world. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know yet. It will be a completely different lifestyle, something that I’d have to see what’s good for Kourt (his wife, Kourtney) and I at that time.”

Roberts can relate. As his 10-year playing career in the big leagues was drawing to an end, he had no real idea about what he would do next either.

“It wasn’t until I was done,” Roberts said. “I got into TV and then I had an opportunity to work in the front office as a special assistant. Once I did that and got a little taste of the front office and a little taste of being on the field, that was, ‘Oh, there’s a niche there.’ Then once I got into coaching I knew that potentially managing was something I would really enjoy if given the opportunity.

“I never got too far (ahead). I really live in the moment. I can appreciate Justin where he wants to focus on playing. Then when the time comes, it’ll happen.”

Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw has shared a clubhouse with Turner for nine seasons now, watching his teammate evolve from non-roster invitee hoping to win at-bats as a role player to a team leader. Kershaw “100 percent” thinks Turner would make a good manager if that’s the direction he takes after his playing career.

“JT’s got a great pulse for the game. I think he’s got a great feel for baseball,” Kershaw said. “He’s got a ton of instincts – that’s how he hits. He hits very instinctually. He is just a baseball guy.

“He’s a baseball guy. He’s just in it. He’s around it. So as far as that goes, he could do anything. I think manager would fit him well. I think he’d do that really well. He has the command of the clubhouse.I think he could do that if he wanted.”

The job of a modern manager has evolved to include more than commanding a clubhouse. It requires managing information as much as managing people with front offices playing greater roles in day-to-day game-planning and decision-making. Turner could handle that aspect as well, Roberts said.

“The way he sees the game, I absolutely think he’d be a great manager,” Roberts said. “With Justin, he’s smart enough to know you have to listen. You have to play well in the sandbox. No one person has all the answers. And he’s one of our most curious players. So when you’re talking about the analytics side of things, he understands that. On the surface, you see a grinder and a guy who’s been around a long time. But he’s as open to information and data as we have.

“I think the thing with Justin is he’s put himself in position where he could do anything in baseball – what he’s accomplished on the field, off the field the relationships that he’s built.”