DENVER – Locally, Troy Tulowitzki represents a coming of age for the Colorado Rockies, once a middling expansion franchise that drafted and developed him into one of its brightest stars, who helped carry the club to its highest peaks. His return to Coors Field on Monday sparked memories of better times, and even as he described being on the visitors’ side as “weird” and having “mixed emotions,” you could tell he was really taken by being back. Up until last July 28, this was the only baseball home he’d known, and he was fully invested. “When I got drafted here people said, ‘These guys are terrible. They suck. You don’t want to be a Rockie, you’re just going to go there and lose,’” he recalled. “Immediately that lit a fire in me. I wanted it to be cool to be a Rockie, and I wanted free agents to want to sign here. I wanted it to be a place where you can win.”
For the Toronto Blue Jays, on the other hand, Tulowitzki is a symbol of the organization’s audacious ambition in 2015, his stunning acquisition a flexing of both the team’s financial wherewithal and its abundance of prospect capital. The team had never before made a mid-season move so bold, for a superstar player with, at the time, another $98 million and five guaranteed years remaining. Only people with major aspirations make such moves. “It was huge,” said manager John Gibbons. “It sent a good message out there (to the clubhouse), to the fanbase, all that and it paid off, big-time.”
In many ways, Monday closed the loop between the all-star shortstop’s past and present, providing him the closure he was robbed of by being traded unexpectedly while on the road. As he stepped to the plate in the second inning, the fans who once so adored him stood and cheered. He responded by taking off his helmet and waving it back, a rare display for someone who is usually of a singular focus.
Afterwards, it was like everyone was on to new lives, his initial anger at GM Jeff Bridich and owner Dick Monfort relegated to the past, his opportunity with the Blue Jays the future.
“The way that the trade happened, I wish it had been cleaner, I wish there had been better communication,” said Tulowitzki. “I’ve touched on that in the past, about how upset I was. Now I’m sitting here and it’s over with. It shouldn’t be some story about how he’s bitter. I’m not bitter. I’m in a good place, on a good team. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. That being said, we should all move on. The Rockies got some great players for me (pitching prospects Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco plus Jose Reyes to balance out the money). Some of them have made their contributions and some are in the wings who are going to be good players. Hopefully I can do my thing here in Toronto and can win a World Series.”
To that end, Tulowitzki continues to adjust to his new life.
Spring training was important for him, allowing him to be with the Blue Jays right from the very start of a season, rather than parachuting into the middle of the campaign. There are still things he misses about Denver, his house among them, and at first the change was difficult because when “you’re in one place for so long, you don’t see it any other way.”
Now, “I enjoy Toronto, I love playing there, I love my teammates, the coaches,” he said. “It’s a bigger city than Denver is, that’s a little bit of a transition, but I’m really starting to feel at home there and excited about our future. Since last year, and you look at our team this year, it’s really a good team and there’s a chance for it to be good for a long time.”
An intriguing question to ponder as the game’s focus starts shifting to the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline is whether the Blue Jays will pursue upgrades in the same fashion as last year. There are certainly far fewer assets for new president and CEO Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins to work with than former GM Alex Anthopoulos had last year. But they do have enough pieces to make a deal or two without completely torching the system, and given that the Blue Jays are second in average attendance among American League clubs at 38,035, money isn’t an issue.
This is a time for the Blue Jays to be thinking big again, the way they did a year ago when Tulowitzki was acquired and deals for David Price, Ben Revere and Mark Lowe followed.
“I think the organization has definitely done a good job of bringing in character, guys that they know go about the game the right way,” said Tulowitzki. “I think they’ve got a good grasp on that. Obviously Alex, the guy who made the trade for me, isn’t with us anymore, but I think the new guys have really stepped in and done it really in kind of the same way. That’s the way to do it.”