Let’s have a little fun this morning since there isn’t a Yankees game to get ready for and I’m frankly tired of talking about Masahiro Tanaka. Let’s talk about making an off the wall trade that will probably never happen and a trade that I’m not even sure I would be all for to be honest, let’s talk about another trade for the Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Many this offseason scoffed at the idea of having Tulo in the Yankees lineup due to his hip surgery and general health questions but Tulo seems to be full recovered from the hip injury and may be primed to finally play shortstop in Yankees pinstripes in the Bronx if the Rockies decide to trade him in July.
If the Rockies trade Tulowitzki then the team has to go into full blown rebuild mode, and will have to trade Carlos Gonzalez as well if healthy, which is where Didi Gregorius comes in. Gregorius has a ton of team control left for a marginal league minimum salary heading into his arbitration years. Didi will miss out on Super Two status in 2015 and even with a few break out seasons will cost the Rockies less in the long haul then Tulo would. Obviously the Yankees would have to throw more into the deal but as long as that deal did not include Aaron Judge or Luis Severino then I think the deal could conceivably get done and get done in the Yankees favor.
What Tulo brings back to the Yankees would be a right handed power threat to balance out the lineup and really add some dynamic to the team. If you look at things from 2014 and compare them to 2015 offensively Brian McCann is still off to a slow start and so is Carlos Beltran. Mark Teixeira is better but overall the only real addition to the team has been a right handed hitting Alex Rodriguez. Chase Headley is on the team but his stats aren’t as good as Yangervis Solarte’s were at the beginning of the 2014 season and Stephen Drew pretty much pushes Brian Roberts’s production. One man, a soon to be 40 year old man at that, changed the dynamic of the lineup simply because he takes his walks, hits for power and can balance out a very left handed lineup. Adding Tulowitzki to that mix and taking essentially your worst hitter and turning him into your best hitter can only make this team better.
For those worried about Tulo’s health one must consider the fact that the Yankees have the DH in the American League and can give him half days off at least once a week if they so choose. Also the team has a suitable defense replacement in Brendan Ryan for those times that Joe Girardi feels compelled to give Tulo a day like he’s been known to do. Tulo’s hip surgery doesn’t worry me as much as it this offseason either after the shortstop came out of the gate, albeit in still a small sample size, hitting .297 with a .312 on-base percentage with two home runs and 10 RBI. I’m not dogging on Didi here and I’m not calling for him to be traded no matter what but if the deal makes sense then you have to do it. This deal, depending on the other moving pieces, makes sense for the Yankees even if it still likely won’t happen for New York.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)