When Troy Tulowitzki is on the field, he is the best at what he does.
If he were on it more often, he would arguably be the game’s brightest superstar. On that, there should be no debate.
Tulowitzki is the best shortstop in baseball. He is the best all-around infielder in the game. He is one of the sport’s elite hitters as well. He is the kind of do-it-all player organizations fantasize about drafting.
When they do not, they dream about ways to trade for him, and at some point, the team that did draft him ought to seriously consider such a deal.
Tulowitzki understands that now more than ever.
“I think this offseason was the first time it really hit me, just because it was every single day and pretty hard,” he told reporters after reporting to Colorado Rockies spring training last month. “I do pay attention, and yeah, I saw my name being thrown all over.”
This is an athlete at a premium position who plays it exceedingly well—over the last eight seasons, he has been worth 84 defensive runs saved, per FanGraphs, and two Gold Gloves—and can hit like a corner infielder or outfielder. He is also signed through 2020 for $118 million, per Cot's Baseball Contracts, which makes him something of a bargain in baseball’s current economic market.
Consider that kind of production and the fact that the Rockies appear years away from seriously contending, and it’s easy to understand why teams would be feeling out Colorado's interest in a swap. However, Tulowitzki is the biggest trade gamble on the market.
While he is a coveted target and would be a bargain if he produces, any team dealing for him would have to cross its fingers that Tulo is able to avoid injury and stay in the lineup.
He has missed 222 games over the last three seasons, playing in just 47 games in 2012 and 91 last year. He might have been on his way to the National League MVP Award in 2014 had hip surgery in August not ended his season. He was hitting .340/.432/.603 with a 1.035 OPS, 21 home runs and a 171 OPS-plus, per Baseball-Reference.com, when the hip put him on the shelf.
For his career, Tulowitzki has missed 334 games—more than two full seasons—because of injuries, some serious and some nagging, according to Baseball Prospectus' injury data. He has had two major season-ending surgeries—the hip last year and one to repair a groin injury in 2012.
Because of all his time sidelined, Tulowitzki’s career has become known for time missed and what he could be if healthy rather than what he has actually done while on the field. He is aware of the stigma.
“I've gone to lengths and lengths to try to figure this thing out,” the Rockies shortstop said of his infamous injury history. “I'm not going to quit. I'm not going to quit trying until I find that right recipe.”
The Rockies desperately need him to figure it out, because they have not finished higher than third in the NL West since 2009 and have averaged nearly 93 losses a season over the last four years.
Even with Tulowitzki present and accounted for in their lineup, the Rockies are not a contender in the NL West. That is why they need him healthy, not for their own benefit, but so they can showcase him as a healthy superstar. Only then can they get a premium return package in what would be a blockbuster trade either this season or during the next offseason.
Such a trade would allow the franchise to move forward with younger, promising players while opening up payroll.
The problem is that the Rockies believe they can compete with Tulowitzki healthy. That is why trade talks with teams like the New York Mets never went far, assuming they got off the ground at all last offseason.
Meanwhile, deals to Tulowitzki’s preferred destinations—the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco Giants, per CBS Sports' Jon Heyman—were never realistic options, as a compensatory package for the shortstop would be nearly impossible to agree upon given his injury history.
The Yankees and Dodgers are on top of SS Troy Tulowitzki’s trade wish list.
— SportsBlogNewYork (@SportBlogNYC) November 11, 2014
“We kept him because, one, we believe in him,” Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich told Tyler Kepner of The New York Times. “Two, he’s the best shortstop in the game, when he’s on the field. That’s pretty easy to see. There’s actually not that much competition for that moniker. There’s a couple of guys you could bring up, but it’s him, and it’s a premium position.”
That is exactly why the Rockies should move Tulowitzki. He is a rare commodity, maybe the only one of his kind, and he could fetch a foundation for a serious rebuild—if he is healthy.
Bridich was smart not to trade him over the winter. He would have been selling too low on a player capable of being one of the top five in the game. It is better to let his best player showcase himself when he's healthy and productive, then strike on a market absent of Tulowitzki’s kind of talent.
This coming season is critical for the Rockies and Tulowitzki. They need him on the field and performing at an elite level, not so they can win games now, but so they can build a promising future.
All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
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