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Reactions To And Impact Of The Troy Tulowitzki Deal

By Jeff Todd and Steve Adams | July 28, 2015 at 8:00pm CDT

The blockbuster trade sending start shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the Rockies to the Blue Jays is now official. He’s officially heading to Toronto along with veteran reliever LaTroy Hawkins. In return, the Rockies will pick up the rest of the contract of Jose Reyes (saving about $50MM against Tulo’s deal) and add three quality right-handed pitching prospects (Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco).

Here are the some of the many reactions to the overnight deal, along with the latest notes from the teams involved:

  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos’ persistent approach paid off in the end, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. According to Rosenthal, Anthopoulos first contacted Rockies GM Jeff Bridich about the possibility of acquiring Tulowitzki this winter, but Bridich wasn’t interested in taking on Reyes as part of the return. The same held true in May, but there was a bit of traction in early July, and business picked up quickly on Monday night. (Rosenthal adds that Anthopoulos took the same dogged approach with A’s GM Billy Beane in offseason talks for Josh Donaldson.)
  • After being promised that he’d be consulted prior to any trade, Tulowitzki instead found out when manager Walt Weiss, with tears in his eyes, pulled the franchise cornerstone from the game in the ninth inning on Monday, reports Yahoo’s Jeff Passan. The Rockies, Passan continues, asked that Tulo not publicly demand a trade so as not to weaken their stance in discussions, and he obliged. Both Passan and Rosenthal note that Tulowitzki is not pleased with the manner in which his exit from Colorado was handled. Notably, Passan writes that the Rockies’ young players have said to one another since the trade that owner Dick Monfort should have flown into Chicago to inform Tulowitzki in person. This type of ugly exit sets a bad precedent with remaining stars around whom the Rockies want to build (e.g. Nolan Arenado, Corey Dickerson), Passan opines.
  • As for Arenado, he expressed some dismay at the situation to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. “I don’t know any of these dudes we got,” Arenado said. “But I think if we were going to trade Tulo, I would think it would be for an ace, an established veteran pitcher. Obviously we are starting to rebuild from the ground up.” (To be fair, it seems that Arenado was referring to the prospect pitching that came back in the deal, not the veteran Reyes.)
  • Rosenthal adds that the Blue Jays are still intent on adding starting pitching, and he speculatively wonders if the addition of Tulowitzki’s imposing bat will make it easier for the Blue Jays to part with Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion to make that happen. But reports have indicated that won’t occur, and GM Alex Anthopoulos confirmed in his press conference that the team does not intend to move its big league bats to add arms (via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca, on Twitter). In Passan’s piece above, he notes that the team will be active on the pitching front but deal from its prospect depth instead of its big league roster.
  • The team does, however, intend to remain active on the market for relievers and, especially, starters. Anthopoulos said he hopes to make staff additions over the next few days, as Sportsnet’s Arash Madani tweets.
  • Coming out of this deal, the Jays could look to add another option in left field, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports. He also cites a report from Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun regarding the failure of Toronto’s recent attempt to pry Carlos Carrasco away from the Indians. Hoffman would have been a part of that deal, along with highly-regarded prospects Daniel Norris and Dalton Pompey, which could explain in part how things worked out. (It’s also an indication of what kind of price Carrasco could command.)
  • Looking ahead, Anthopoulos says that the Blue Jays see Tulowitzki as a future piece for the club, as Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star reports on Twitter. “We would have taken Tulowitzki in the offseason, we just couldn’t get a deal done,” said the Toronto GM. “This is not a July deal.”
  • Several rival executives believe the Rockies will keep Reyes with hopes that he’ll regain some value over the second half, Passan tweets. Certainly, playing at Coors Field promises to boost his batting line, though injuries have long been an issue for the Rockies. The strategy certainly does make some sense at first glance, though, as the team may not be prepared to hand the everyday job to prospect Trevor Story and Reyes could find a much wider market over the winter. I’d also add that he could factor as an August trade piece in the event that a contender has a need arise.
  • The Cardinals talked with the Rockies about Tulowitzki before he was moved, sources tell Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter).  Morosi notes that Tulowitzki is close with outfielder Matt Holliday, so that might have been a good fit for the shortstop.
  • The Rockies and Cardinals have discussed Tulo in the past, but a deal never came together because the asking price was “absurd,” one source tells Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch.  Various sources have indicated that the Rockies sought a package that included, at times, Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal, and Matt Adams — and possibly all three. That was too much for the Cardinals, who also made it clear that Michael Wacha was not going to be in such a deal.
  • The Yankees, meanwhile, were never even engaged by the Rockies before the deal was struck, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. While New York had long seemed a plausible destination, we also heard earlier today that the Mets passed on an opportunity to get involved.
  • It was notable, of course, that the Jays made this big of a splash to add a position player, but Dave Cameron of Fangraphs argues that the team’s desire to add pitching shouldn’t preclude it from upgrading in any way possible. Bolstering the team’s lineup (as well as its defense) still adds runs to the ledger, and Cameron suggests that Toronto may well be correct in assessing that it made more sense to utilize its young arms in this deal than to move them for a rental arm (or, perhaps, a somewhat less productive and/or risky controllable starter). It’s a lengthy and detailed piece — all the more impressive since Cameron pulled it together not long after the deal went down — and is well worth a full read.
  • Obviously, Toronto did give up real value to bring in one of the game’s biggest stars. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs breaks down the three hurlers involved in the swap. He explains that Jeff Hoffman still has plenty of upside, but appears to have dialed back the aggressiveness in his delivery since his return from Tommy John surgery. Miguel Castro, meanwhile, has a live arm but needs significant refinement. And Jesus Tinoco fits roughly the same profile, delivering ample tools to dream on but figuring as a possible future pen arm if he does not develop as hoped.
  • For ESPN.com’s Keith Law, despite the promise of the departing arms, the deal represents a win for the Jays given that they did not have to part with either Norris or Aaron Sanchez. He sees Hoffman more as a future mid-rotation starter than a top-line arm, with Castro looking like a strong future reliever and Tinoco a back-end rotation piece.
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Cleveland Guardians Colorado Rockies New York Mets New York Yankees St. Louis Cardinals Toronto Blue Jays Aaron Sanchez Carlos Carrasco Dalton Pompey Daniel Norris Edwin Encarnacion Jeff Hoffman Jose Bautista Jose Reyes LaTroy Hawkins Miguel Castro Nolan Arenado Trevor Rosenthal Troy Tulowitzki

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View Comments (22)
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22 Comments

  1. donniebaseball

    10 years ago

    I like the deal for the Rockies if Castro can be a starter, but if not, I’m really mixed on this trade from the Rockies perspective. Really like Hoffman though, and hopefully Reyes’ bat looks better at coors

    Reply
    • dbeattie

      10 years ago

      I think it makes sense for the Rockies. Hoffman’s nice as you say and whether Castro sticks as a starter or not he could end up a top tier closer given his stuff. The other guy looks like a back end starter. They also get an above average shortstop on a shorter contract

      Reply
  2. charles stevens

    10 years ago

    Castro fits in the bullpen. He’s a future closer. Rockies did pretty good on this trade. The kicker to the deal is getting Reyes going so you can turn him into something.

    Reply
  3. RedRooster

    10 years ago

    This deal makes no sense in a vacuum. There are definitely more trades coming on the Rockies’ side. If they wanted to keep an expensive veteran shortstop they would have just stuck with their franchise player instead of the other guy. Plus they have Story and Rodgers brewing in the minors.

    Reply
    • everlastingdave

      10 years ago

      Taking Reyes’s contract was the price of business for getting those three arms, I would guess.

      Reply
      • kingjenrry

        10 years ago

        By their evaluation. It seems like they got robbed, though. For the best shortstop in baseball over the past several years, they got a salary dump, a top pitching prospect, and two future relievers.

        Reply
  4. Avi

    10 years ago

    According to Jeff Passan, Tulowitzki said explicitly he did not want to be traded to the Mets, so there’s that.

    Reply
    • Ray Ray

      10 years ago

      He can want whatever he wants, but he didn’t have a no trade clause. The Rockies could have dealt him to anyone regardless of his feelings. Apparently it didn’t matter because he seems to be leaving with hard feelings anyway.

      Reply
      • Dock_Elvis

        10 years ago

        Sure, but if your the Mets do you want a guy who explicitly doesn’t want to play for you?

        Reply
    • kingjenrry

      10 years ago

      I hope he regrets that decision playing half his games on turf. The Mets are well positioned to contend short- and long-term and would have been able to provide a better package fairly easily.

      Reply
  5. stymeedone

    10 years ago

    Its amazing how a fairly high first round pick suddenly, in Keith Law’s eyes, has only mid-range starter projection.

    Reply
    • Vandals Took The Handles

      10 years ago

      Why?

      Can you show me a link to where someone has done an evaluation of how Keith Law’s evaluations have worked out?

      Reply
  6. Matt Galvin

    10 years ago

    Looks like Tigers sellers so maybe Price for Norris and so on.

    Reply
    • dbeattie

      10 years ago

      Report earlier today was that theyre looking to buy. Who knows why

      Reply
      • max l

        10 years ago

        They now have the 5th worst record in the AL, and are 4-8 since the All Star Break. It’s time to face reality and realize your season is going nowhere, your minor league teams stink, so now would be as good of time as ever to get better in that department.

        Reply
      • jtt11 2

        10 years ago

        Bc illitch is 88 years old and wants a championship desperately.

        Reply
  7. frontdeskmike

    10 years ago

    Given Tulo’s injury history, I wonder how he holds up playing on turf.

    Reply
  8. bigturtlemachine

    10 years ago

    Toronto’s interest in Mike Leake likely increased tonight after he threw eight shutout innings against the Cardinals and allowed just four hits. Leake has given up three runs in his last 30 innings. The guy can help a contender.

    Reply
    • tigerfan1968

      10 years ago

      Jays only playoff hope is catching the Twins for a wild card. Astros or Angels should get the first wild card spot. The Jays either get an impact starter this week or an unlikely improvement from their so so starters is required. Jays and Orioles are mirror image teams. Donaldson = Machado, Encarnacion = Davis,
      Jones = Bautista, Russell Martin = Matt Wieters , Chen = Buerhle , etc. The Orioles or Jays need to get a win streak started quickly.

      Reply
      • BadBJay

        10 years ago

        I agree about their wild card chances at this rate. But I’d take Donaldson, Edwin, JB, Martin, and Buerhle over their Oriole counterparts as you mentioned.

        Reply
  9. kingjenrry

    10 years ago

    Hoffman is solid but Reyes has negative value at the moment. If they can flip him for a huge haul, the trade will make sense. If not, the move will make virtually no sense because a team terrible at developing pitchers just acquired three raw pitching prospects.

    Reply
    • Dock_Elvis

      10 years ago

      A team that has been terrible at developing pitching prospects starts acquiring those, and also has started doing well through the draft is a bad thing? This is exactly what Colorado has to do….they need top end controllable arms to pan out. The offense has a major advantage in Denver.

      Reply

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