In a recent radio appearance on Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s Lead Off show (audio link available, with geographic restrictions), current Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos discussed one of the signature moves from his tenure as the Blue Jays’ general manager — namely, the blockbuster trade that brought Troy Tulowitzki and LaTroy Hawkins from the Rockies to the Jays in July 2015, with Jose Reyes and three well-regarded pitching prospects going to Colorado.
Anthopoulos said initial talks with the Rockies began during the 2014-15 offseason, as “we had concerns with Jose Reyes’ defense at the end of 2014.” Reyes was coming off a rough year of glovework, posting a minus -3.3 UZR/150 and minus-14 Defensive Runs Saved over 1243 2/3 innings as Toronto’s shortstop. As per those two metrics, Reyes had been a subpar defender for multiple seasons, though Anthopoulos said the decline in the shortstop’s range was becoming a particular issue for the Jays.
By comparison, Tulowitzki was a much more accomplished defender, in the eyes of both the advanced metrics and in terms of hardware (two Gold Gloves and three Fielding Bible Awards between 2007-11). The +4.2 UZR/150 and +2 DRS that Tulowitzki posted in 2015 made him a major upgrade over Reyes — as Anthopoulos noted, Tulowitzki didn’t make a single error as a Blue Jay during the 2015 regular season and postseason.
After a loss to the Phillies on July 28, 2015, the day of the Tulowitzki deal, Toronto had only a 50-51 record and sat eight games out of first place in the AL East. Anthopoulos still felt confident that his club could break out, however: “We lost a ton of games just because we were not playing good defense, and all the pieces were there to have a great team.”
Anthopoulos cited Tulowitzki and Ben Revere (picked up in a less-heralded deadline day deal with the Phillies) as major elements to the defensive turnaround, and of course the Jays’ other headline-grabbing trade to land David Price from the Tigers also helped on the run-prevention front. The rest was history — after that July 28 loss to Philadelphia, the Blue Jays went on a 43-18 tear over the rest of the regular season to clinch the team’s first AL East title and playoff berth since 1993.
“For me, the key was just shoring up the defense across the board,” Anthopoulos said. “From Tulo, to getting Ben Revere in left and not having Chris Colabello and [Danny] Valencia on the corners in the outfield when [Jose] Bautista was out DHing. Just becoming a better defensive club, that really made the whole team get to where we should have been the entire year, when you’re looking at runs scored [and] runs against.”
While things obviously worked out for Toronto, losing Reyes was no small issue to his former teammates. “It’s not like the clubhouse was elated…we knew they would be jarred” Anthopoulos said, adding that Reyes’ “work ethic was fantastic” and that the shortstop was “so well-liked without our clubhouse.”
Still, some version of Reyes-for-Tulowitzki was a constant within the Jays’ talks with the Rockies, as Anthopoulos said “we were adamant that Reyes had to be part of the deal going back.” Beyond the practical element of filling each team’s need at shortstop, including Reyes in the trade helped offset some of the added financial costs Toronto faced in taking on Tulowitzki’s contract. Tulowitzki was owed a minimum of $98MM from 2016-20, while Reyes earned $48MM through the 2017 season — two seasons of salary and then a $4MM buyout of his $22MM club option for 2018. As it happened, Reyes forfeited roughly $7.09MM of that salary due to a suspension under the domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse policy, and he was released by Colorado in June 2016.
For more on the Tulowitzki trade, Jeff Todd recently took a longer-term view of the transaction as part of MLBTR’s YouTube video series, making the case that it was something of a win-win deal for both the Blue Jays and Rockies, even though “both were left a little bit shy of what they really expected to get.”
The ideal type of pitcher and the ideal type of player to get in a playoff hunt. At the time, a top 3 shortstop and a top 10 starting pitcher.
Guy is a winner. Loves Baseball more than any player I have seen.
Injuries took the game away but in his prime was one of the better SS I have seen.
The guy wants to be around the game so much he volunteered this year to coach college baseball at the University of Texas.
How many rings does he have?
Tulowotzki was a hell of a talented shortstop for some time, but these fluff comments are just meaningless. He “loves baseball” more than other players? This is just another dog whistle like “plays the game the right way”. Pure folderol.
It was well known throughout his career Tulo was baseball 24/7.
Pretty much never left the game. There is some issues there with that but ultimately baseball is his life.
Regarding the winner part
The article gives him credit for Toronto’s success in 2015.
I really think his impact was seen at the beginning of his career with Colorado in 2007.
These are the reasons why Toronto made the deal.
Injuries derailed his career plus playing for teams like Colorado and Toronto but he is someone if you really pay attention to you see why teams would desire him to be on their team.
So 0?
What does rings have to do with anything?
Do guys who have rings love baseball more than those who don’t? Hardly. Do guys who win rings have better careers than those who don’t? Nope. That’s not true either.
I wouldn’t call others out for their posts while simultaneously brining up a meaningless question that has no bearing on things.
Trevor hoffman is a winner. Hof career. 2nd best closer in the history of baseball. No rings. But you know rings clearly are more important than being the 2nd best all time in the history of the sport. Nobody is touching 600 saves ever again the way baseball is now a days.
Troy Tulowitzki: “My legacy as a Rockie is someone who helped win ballgames”
Nothing about individual accomplishments there.
All about helping them be a contending team his entire time with that organization
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.denverpost.com/2019/07/29/troy-tulowitzki-colorado-rockies-legacy/amp/
He said he’s a winner. I’m merely calling out how substance free that statement is.
Something about it upsets you.
If he played with a big time franchise I think the narrative around him would be different.
Guy is a winner.
Read how he wants to be remembered.
It is true. When he was healthy in the lineup he changed the game with his glove and bat.
All of this is the reason Toronto made the deal.
At the beginning it worked. His impact on that team made them a winning ballclub.
Monty loves to argue with people on here.
How many rings did Ted Williams have?
Buddy, 100% of MLB players are “winners”.
When Tulo arrived in Colorado they became a better team. Please check their record when he didn’t play or was injured. Better yet, stop commenting.
Anytime someone uses the term “dog whistle” about a comment, it does nothing but show the stupidity of the user. Stop implying racism where there is none.
Guy is a winner.
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Technically incorrect. In is total combined career starts, his record is below .500.
And, FWIW, I love baseball also. I stunk, but I loved baseball.
I love baseball so much Im commenting on an anonymous comments thread during a plague about it
He should have moved to third before he came up
Blue Jays fans complain about the Tulo deal. If you don’t do the deal, you sell Bautista, Encarnacion, Donaldson, and eat most of Martin and Reyes’ contracts to start a rebuild then and there. Addition by subtraction when Reyes was traded. Such a shame because Reyes was an all-world talent.
LOL Bluejays fans don’t complain about that deal at all, what are you talking about?
Clearly you haven’t paid attention to the threads on this site involving Tulowitzki articles. Then you’d stand corrected. Blue Jays fans have complained about the Tulo deal, which is ridiculous. Feel free to check on your own time. Until then, apology accepted.
Nah man every rational jays fan loves the Tulo trade. Get outta here with your rudeness
He was rudely responding to another poster who was rude. Why defend the other guy?
How was the original inquiry rude?
Which part was rude? Is it rude to ask a question? Oops , I’m sorry. Was that rude of me to ask? Damn there I go again lmao.
Oh and I did check out the previous Tulowitzki thread there wild bill. I didn’t see a single person complaining about that deal being made, a few guys didn’t like releasing him and paying him 48m to play for the Yankees, but we all know how that turned out. Personally I liked Tulowitzki, he played baseball the right way and respected the game. Shame he couldn’t stay healthy but that’s baseball.
Look further back Vlad. Much further back. Yes you were rude. For no reason also.
Just admit you got called out on making something up and move on.
Sorry Debbie Downer, if you don’t want to go back and re-check every Blue Jays, Reyes and Tulo article that is your problem. Now please go back to stealing and ruining Seinfeld quotes because your comments are depressing.
As hominem attacks and deflection. No surprise here.
I have never heard of the Fielding bible award
Great player whose career got derailed, oh what could have he have been……
Agreed great player for half seasons. What he could of been. You just knew going into every year it was a matter of time.
He was the next generation Eric Davis.
Does anyone know the 3 pitchers?
Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco? I believe,
So TOR got the better end of the deal.
Yes, Toronto desperately needed quality defense up the middle, they already had Martin behind the dish and “Superman” Pillar in centre. Toronto already possessed one of the most dangerous lineups in the league, if not the most dangerous. A 43-18 record to finish the season, and ZERO errors from Tulowitzki up the middle was exactly what Toronto needed. Reyes ended up getting suspended for domestic violence and was awful in Colorado, he was earning about the same as Tulo but for less year (Reyes 2/48, Tulo 4/96)? So he really didn’t cost Toronto as much as you think , we would have payed Reyes half as much to play brutal defense at a premiere position. Tulo was also our starting shortstop for back to back playoff runs which is definitely valuable, I think I remember him clearing the bases loaded multiple times during in the playoffs runs as well.
I don’t hear too much Jays fans complaining about the deal. I did hear awhile ago Blair said on the Fan590 people in the front office stood up and begged AA not to do this deal. They didn’t like the financial obligation and his declining play. Felt he was too injury prone…
On the other hand it was AA’s plan B or even C as a trade for Ben Zobarist fell through. Also he was working hard to get Votto which couldn’t happen after taking on the Tulo contract.
Jays still paying Tulo through 2021!
Actually, they bought him out so he’s no longer on the books.
Baseball contracts are guaranteed. Tulo is still on the books until 2021. Jays owe him 14M this season and 4M next season, both figures count against the payroll.
Bought him out? Is this your first day being a baseball fan? No such thing as buyouts in the same way that they exist in the NBA or NHL, you have to pay the entire contract.
Probably the reason why he is a volunteer coach in college baseball.
Toronto is paying for it
Its a restructured deal….so its a buyout.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4941494
Personally, I feel AA knew he wasn’t going to be back the following season, so he pushed his chips to the center of the table with Tulo and Price. It shored up the Blue Jays and gave the guys who were forcing him out less prospect capital to work with.
It’s really rather remarkable to see how aggressive he was with Toronto during his tenure (Marlins trade, Dickey/Tulo/Price trades., Martin deal, etc.) vs. how calculated and restraint he’s been in Atlanta (only two multi-year free agents deals in three offseasons, letting JD walk, Acuna/Albies no-brainer extensions, not trading any top prospects yet.)
If anyone feels he was too focused on the present in Toronto, I’d argue he hasn’t been as aggressive in Atlanta which is in a better situation than he was with the Blue Jays.
Excellent point. AA had to know the Shapiro hire was coming (Shapiro was officially announced as Jays president in August 2015 right after AA made all of those moves) so his time was limited and he just said eff it.
I also kinda agree about AA in Atlanta, he has been very reserved outside of the way he has tried to fix the bullpen last season taking on Melancon’s deal, trading for Shane Greene and trading for Chris Martin along with signing Will Smith this past winter.
The Dickey deal hurt, bad. I feel like that deal, may have single handily cost us a ring in 2015. Granted, we wouldn’t have got that far without the deal that brought in the 2015 AL MVP in the offseason. He also drafted Chad Jenkins a few picks before Mike Trout came off the board, I know a lot of GMs f***ed up that day, but it’s still hard to fathom. The Marlins deal is fine, it kind of reignited hope for some Bluejay fans that were probably sick of watching the yankees buy division titles and none of those prospects really turned out, Marisnack and Desclafani are decent and Alvarez had a couple good years and a no-hitter left. In 2015 he also definitely probably should have brought in a shut down reliever, Hawkins and Lowe were couldn’t be trusted in the playoffs. I feel he’s doing better and he’s obviously more experienced in Atlanta, I thought he gave up too much for Chris Martin, the Donaldson deal was genius, Albie’s and Acuña might have the best contracts in the league other then Yelich. We will see how his massive bullpen overhaul turns out, but it seems like he had some money to blow, and not many holes to fill on that roster.
The Dickey deal hurt, bad.
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I remember when the Dickey deal went down, shortly after the Miami trade. The press was raving about how Toronto won the off-season. I never understood it. They picked up some decent pieces, but gave up half their farm, and paid those guys a ton of money.
Dickey was a 38 year old knuckleballer. Johnson was talented, but always injured. Reyes was another talented, but injury-prone player, whose defense was already on the decline. Buehrle was dent but 34.
And just as important, the Miami contracts, like all Miami contracts,were backloaded. So Miami got Buehrle for $6M/1, while TO paid $49M/3. And Miami paid Reyes $10M/1, while TO paid Reyes $96M/5. So it felt like, not only did TO empty half their farm, they also overpaid in pure $$$.
One thing to consider about the Miami deal, the Marlins signed both Reyes and Buehrle who were both issued qualifying offers going into 2012 so they gave up draft picks to sign the guys, JJ had pitched 916 innings of 3.15 ERA/3.2 FIP Over the previous 7-8 seasons so he had value as well. From what I remember we gave up Henderson Alvarez, Hechavarria, Marisnack, Nicolino, Yunel Escobar, Desclafani. Not a bad package, but no All-stars. Out of all the 40 or so prospects AA traded away from 2013-2015 the only one that really stings is Syndegaard, Matt Boyd is decent, but we got David Price in that deal, well worth it.
AA would be eviscerated if he came in and cleaned house on a very good Braves farm, it’s in his best interests to keep Pache, Anderson and the like around, and if he traded them for a star who immediately flopped, he’d probably be out the door in 2 years. I think he’s still very capable of making another Dickey trade though, I think he’s wisely just waiting and seeing what he has.
Bullpen is a great place to spend that funny money he has from Acuna and Albies. If they flop, whatever, now you get Ian Anderson working out of the pen. Extremely low risk to turn over a pen these days. AA is def just running in place, you just know he wants to start dealing though.
“For me, the key was just shoring up the defense across the board,” Anthopoulos said. “From Tulo, to getting Ben Revere in left and not having Chris Colabello and [Danny] Valencia on the corners in the outfield when [Jose] Bautista was out DHing. Just becoming a better defensive club, that really made the whole team get to where we should have been the entire year, when you’re looking at runs scored [and] runs against.”
I guess that’s as close as AA will ever come to admitting that he was/is brutal at being able to round out the team. As far as I’m concerned going all in on Tulo at the deadline was just a big FU to the owner for not promoting him to club president. As for the Zobrist deal he wouldn’t give up Rowdy Tellez! Rowdy effen Tellez ladies & gentlemen was the difference between Zobrist & Revere. So glad AA is gone. I feel bad for Braves fans. He’ll ruin them too.
A big FU to the owner for doing something which didn’t happen until a month after the trade
Beeston had announced his retirement long before the trade deadline.(the year before iirc) AA took it for granted that he would get the promotion, so yes it was a way to handcuff the team financially. His parting shot so to speak. Not to mention AA being publicly humiliated while Ed Rogers looked for the Beest’s replacement. Give it time, he WILL ruin the Braves. He’s already started lining up his ducks in a row.
Exactly, AA isn’t actually good. Big name, not big results. Bad talent evaluator.
Loved Tulo but he showed a bit of his true colors in his first spring AB in late February playing for NYY vs Jays, Stroman lobbed him a BP fastball, Tulo hit it out, and spent the 10 minutes rounding the bases waiving his arms and mouth towards Jays dugout. For a guy who supposedly was classy to do that?? And dont talk to me about getting released by Jays. If you are earning $22-$30 mil a year, and you havent played in a year and a half because your foot hurts, what did you think would happen? Tulo himself would have done the same if he was a GM.
Tulo and AA are both overrated.
Tulo’s gold glove he won over Brendan goddamn Ryan really irks me the most. Why does hitting have to matter in the fielding award??? Ryan was Ozzie-level in his prime. The fact he doesn’t have 4 gold gloves is a travesty. None better from 09-13. Tulo was not even close to Ryan.
Im feelin like Van Gundy this Sunday. Miss his constant whining throughout games, lol
Quit your complaining. You know the GG was always a little weak, but became meaningless when they gave a GG to a DH.
But to make it worse, they also gave one to Jeter in 2010, when he had a -5.1 UZR/150, with -5 DRS, and the Fielding Bible awarded votes to 20 different shortstops, and Jeter didn’t get a single vote.
B. Ryan? I hardly remember him….. Hummm
I don’t understand why people think AA is even remotely competent GM. In 10 seasons he’s made the playoffs 4 times: 2 of those were the Braves, on a team he didn’t really put together; and the other 2 were because of the Donaldson trade, which was clearly Beane hooking up his friend.
I’d be terrified of him if I was a Braves fan. He’s just not good at his job. Can’t pick talent, traded for a clearly flawed Tulo on a team that didn’t need him. Easily the most overrated GM in baseball. Hope he doesn’t blow it for the Braves, they have a lot of talent, he might get fooled into a bad trade like the Tulo deal again.
I wouldn’t say hes not remotely competent. When he first became GM for the Jay’s, he did a rebuild which was expected that there wouldn’t be any postseason runs.
Drafting is a hit or miss, but he was quite the forward thinker by taking advantage of the previous compensation pick system that soon after was changed because of the ways he was manipulating it.
As the assistant GM to Richardi, AA was credited for finding and worked the trade for Bautista.
So I wouldn’t say he doesn’t know how to evaluate players.
He was quite young when he first took the GM job, so obviously he had some lessons learned types of situations.
No GM is perfect. They cant win all trades or drafts.
Drafting is a hit or miss, but he was quite the forward thinker by taking advantage of the previous compensation pick system that soon after was changed because of the ways he was manipulating it.
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Reminds me of Theo in that regard. He picked up Billy Wagner for virtually nothing, got a good month out of him, offered him arbitration, and picked up the #20 and #36 picks of the draft. All for picking up $1.7M of salary for a good RP.
There’s no back to back ALCS with Jose Reyes at SS. Couldn’t hit and error prone. Tulo stabilized the middle infield.
There’s no back to back ALCS if the Yanks & Red Sox hadn’t been retooling during those years & if Showalter hadn’t left Brittion in the pen. The Jays had the worst record in one run games in 15. It was a fun ride no doubt but the best thing to come out of those two years was Ed Rogers realizing how much more of a profit was to be made with playoff baseball. I think that’s why he’s been patient with Shapiro. That & the fact that it only cost the Jays $40MM of the $140MM for the Dunedin & PDC much needed revamp.
It was correct to capitalize when the Sox and Yanks were spinning their wheels. A tear down and rebuild was necessary after AA left. Having patience was the only to do. How did they save 100 mil on the Vancouver and Florida complexes?
2017 was a brutal, franchise-changing mistake. Hoping for the playoffs, after 2016, was fine. But at the trade deadline, the dream was over. Osuna, Stroman and Sanchez were worth saving. Donaldson had huge value. Guys like Martin might’ve been able to be moved without eating the entire salary. The rest of the team stunk. Maybe Pillar was salvageable.
Most GM mistakes revolve around not tanking when they have a chance.
The Player Development Complex is in Florida as well., about a 7 minute drive from Dunedin Stadium. The state, city of Dunedin & Pinellas County combined covered the majority of it. They got lots of backlash about it but their reasoning was that Jays staff & their families live there all year long. They stated that The Jays are largest employer in Pinellas county. The snowbirds are there for 5-6 months at time not just spring training so they felt the investment was justifiable.
The Yankees 220m and Redsox 190m in 2015 ranked 2nd and 3 rd highest payrolls in the league. Must be nice to be “retooling” and still have the two highest payrolls in the American League. The Orioles were actually pretty good back then too, winning the division in 2014 and a WC loss in 2016.
Must be nice to be “retooling” and still have the two highest payrolls in the American League.
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Good fan support does have its privileges. Gotta agree with you there.
Tulo will not be a Hall of famer and became a major disappointment because he was not a durable ball player. That being said, Tula was a bust contract, did not earn that fat pay check because he couldn’t stay healthy for the most part. But I must say in his prime and when he was in the line up Tulo may have bean the best SS ever having a great bat, tremendous power, and almost seemed as he was flawless with the glove. Barry Larkin was the best all around SS
I thought that was Toronto’s year
Jays fans loved the Tulo trade for about a year. It became clear, after that, that Tulo was pretty much done as a starter. Also, no comments on here about his massive ego? Tulo acted like he invented baseball, while hardly ever in the lineup. That being said, without that trade, Jays playoff drought would still be going on.