April continues to be a nightmare for the 4-12 Blue Jays, who have lost another regular to the disabled list. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki will miss at least 10 days on account of a strained right hamstring, per the Associated Press. Tulowitzki joins third baseman Josh Donaldson, right-hander Aaron Sanchez and left-hander J.A. Happ on the shelf.
Injuries have long been an issue for Tulowitzki, who missed between 31 and 115 games in each of the previous six seasons. Tulowitzki used to make up for lost time with elite-level production as a Rockie, but his offensive performance has dropped off since he joined the Blue Jays via trade in 2015. The 32-year-old has batted a roughly league-average .251/.316/.424 in 788 plate appearances with the Jays, including a .263/.295/.386 line in 61 PAs this season, after slashing a Coors Field-inflated .299/.371/.513 in 4,415 trips to the plate with the Rockies. Tulowitzki has continued to serve as an above-average fielder, though, having tallied 16 Defensive Runs Saved and an 8.8 Ultimate Zone Rating since 2015.
The Tulowitzki-less Jays will go forth with Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney as their most experienced shortstop options. For now, they’ll use Tulowitzki’s roster spot on reliever Leonel Campos, whom they recalled from Triple-A on Saturday. They announced a couple other changes to their pitching staff, too, sending Danny Barnes to Buffalo and calling up Casey Lawrence.
Wow, going from bad to worse. Whata diffcult year so far for the Jays. Go Yanks Go?
Hamstring issues seem like they’re contagious this year. Encarnacion of the Indians has a tight hamstring too (that’s why Santana has been at first for the past six games), and what seems like a dozen actual hamstring injuries between all the teams.
Same with Segura with the M’s.
When things are going bad, the baseball gods just pile on. Giants and now Jays.
FYI, Jays moved Pompey to the 60-day DL to make room for Campos on the 40-man roster.
Do you guys think Tulo was just a produce of Coors?
Nah, but Troy Tuberwitzki was.
No park adjusted stats always said he was good.
We still don’t have a confident understanding of Coors field.
Yup
Because the app doesn’t let me respond to comments… @TheMichigan – I don’t think Tulo was solely a product of Coors field. I think his dropping production should be contributed to his inability to stay healthy.
Has this guy ever been healthy for a full season?
Really sad news. Not. Go orioles
Let’s go O’s!
Chris Davis is that you?
Worst record in MLB, 2/5 of the rotation and the left side of the infield on the DL, a Jose Bautista that looks like he’s heading for his second straight season where he finishes with more strikeouts than hits and management forgot to sign a left fielder in the offseason. Stick a fork in them, they’re done.
Like i said , Go Orioles. It’s very early in the Blue Jays are not done. But they definitely are testing their depth. Tough division doesnt help ..
They were done before the season started.
It doesn’t take much of a brain to realize Tulo’s numbers were much better when he played with the Rox.
It also doesn’t take a brain to realize that Tulo’s numbers were much better when he was healthy. That coincided with his years in Colorado, but he had great numbers home and away, so it’s not fair to imply all his success came from the thin air.
It doesn’t take a brain to realize that when your younger you typically have better numbers then when your older
Man, I know it’s early but Toronto really does look cooked. Tulo wasn’t a Coors field product, his diminished production is just a function of his fragility. I’ve never understood why he’s not been moved to a position that would put less stress on his body, like first base. Especially on a team that’s lacking a first baseman, like the Blue Jays.
lacking a first baseman? they have Justin Smoak, morales and pearce that can all play first. Most of tulos value comes from his defence at shortstop.
I agree, there is no way Tulowitzki gets moved to another position. Gibbons did an interview with Peter Gammons around this time last year and Tulowitski was the topic of conversation. One quote stuck with me… “I don’t care if he doesn’t get another hit all season, his defense is that good.”
I’m shocked! Shocked! Tulo on the DL!?!? Only thing shocking is I had him down for May 15th. I lost the Tulo DL pool.
Jays are old and it looks like it has caught up with them. When the Jays lose 4 core players at once for anytime at all, it is diffcult to recover from. Championship teams will find a way to win through this but the Jays don’t seem to be doing that. Evidence is mounting that it is not their year. On another note, regarding Casey Lawrence, can anyone tell me how a career minor league starter with 171 games experience, at age 29 can increase his velocity from 88 to 91/92 mph? How does that happen? b12? weight balls? more pasta? trying harder? lol.
Actually, championship teams seldom, if ever, lose 4 core players at once. Championship teams are usually the healthy team. No team has the depth to cover for 4 core players going down.
Tull has been very average for quite a while and injured far too often. Jays are in trouble. Maybe their pitching can save them.
Stop tearing up Tulo for one he is better than everyone in this chat and he is still a good player he has the best feilding percentage of ALL TIME for shortstops so to me that’s hardly a bad player and yes he dosent hit like he did in Colorado but he is still an above average hitter defender and and above average player and aside from Dustin Pedroia and Adrian beltre probably the best leader in the game! So hardly a bad player
And anytime would love to have him
They don’t even need to write a new story since this happens at least 2x a year
Man, the Jays suck this year. Pearce, Howell, Salty, Lawrence, Travis, and Coghlan barely even belong in the major leagues anymore, it’s like watching a minor league team. Injurys to Donaldson, Tulo, Happ, Sanchez only make it much worse, I know, Captain Obvious. Terrible Jays senior management work of assembling a team. Ugly.
From JP Morosi of MLBNetwork: Of 10 teams to reach @MLB postseason in 2016, nine had winning records or were only 1 game below .500 when April ended. That means little to no shot for the Jays. Blow it up now.