With the New York Mets in dire need of a bat in the lineup and a body in the field, that pesky name of Troy Tulowitzki keeps popping up.
By Robby Sabo
Like a nagging Facebook friend who doesn’t stop posting self-consumed selfies is the perfect way to describe the rumors surrounding Troy Tulowitzki and the New York Mets.
It started last season and amazingly, hasn’t fully gone away.
Despite no official word to speak of regarding any movement for the Colorado Rockies franchise short-stop heading to Citi Field, the internet and entirety of sports media keeps pumping out idiotic stories of the contrary.
On a daily basis we endure “so-called” baseball people telling us that Tulowitzki is the key to the season for the Mets. Or, that the Rockies would take Jon Niese in a deal for the 30-year old four-time MLB All-Star.
Complete and utter nonsense.
First thing to note for why this entire conversation is a waste of breathe lies in green. Fred and Jeff Wilpon own a team in New York City who toils in the lower-third of baseball salaries.
Ranking 21st in all of baseball with a total payroll of $85,717,728 is all you need to know. The Mets have no interest in picking up Tulo’s $20 million annual base which runs through 2019 and then $14 million in 2020.
Next up in this delusional plan of Tulowitzki coming to Flushing is the certainty that Jeff Birdich, Rockies general manager, won’t give up the face of his franchise without receiving some serious talent in return.
The type of talent he’d ask for would be a king’s ransom. The type of talent that would begin with the names of Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz.
How could Rockies management and ownership ever spin the fact they just traded away their best player for a return of scraps? It’s an impossibility.
Since taking over after the 2010 season, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson put a patient, forthright plan in place that is now starting to take full effect. It was one that was painful, yet will be so rewarding thanks to the best collection of pitching arms in all of Major League Baseball.
If anybody thinks Alderson is going to part with any of his young aces, they have another thing coming. It wouldn’t matter if the Mets were dead last in the league in runs, he’ll go in another direction offensively – finding a lower-tiered bat.
Finally and most importantly is this all important fact: Tulowitzki is not right for the Mets. It has nothing to do with talent. It has everything to do with health.
What good is a great baseball player if he’s sitting in the dugout and rotting on the disabled list all the time?
Coming into 2015 Tulowitzki had only donned the Rockies uniform in 264 games out of a possible 486. This is a playing percentage of just 54 percent.
What right-minded general manager, who’s been patiently stocking up the most valuable position in all of baseball (power arms), would then trade that incredible strength for a guy who is the most injury prone star in all of baseball?
Alderson sure won’t, that’s for sure. And he’s right to stand-pat.
Tulowitzki sure is a pretty name and a guy who’ll excite the fan-base, but he’s a disaster waiting to happen. A betting man will lose hedging their bets to that disaster of such a brittle body.
As far as figuring out a way to improve upon their 27th ranked offense (276 runs scored), Alderson has some work to do.
This work involves keeping the Phenom-Five in place. It involves getting down and dirty, looking for a clever and constructive way to improve the offense.
There are plenty of ways to do it. Troy Tulowitzki is not the answer.
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