Troy Tulowitzki Trade Talks, Imagined

The Colorado Rockies are reportedly willing to listen to Troy Tulowitzki trade offers this winter. Teams are reportedly talking about that option. Let’s talk about these trade talks.

The Rockies are willing to talk about trading Troy Tulowitzki. That could mean a conversation like this:

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Opposing team: We would like to trade for Troy Tulowitzki. We are willing to offer a hefty package of prospects, including blue chippers and guys who are nearly big league ready. We are only asking for you to eat a small chunk of salary, which should be reasonable given the return you are getting.

Rockies: Let’s get down to business. It’s time for us to go a new direction and it sounds like there is a fit here.

Note: I have no idea how baseball executives talk…maybe they use more emojis, maybe they curse, I have no idea. But you get the point: maybe these trade talks are serious, and maybe they truly signal a new direction for the Rockies under Jeff Bridich.

Or…

Maybe the talks go more like this:

Opposing team: Say, do you want to trade Troy Tulowitzki to us?

Rockies: Nope.

Couldn’t both of those conversations subject us to a tweet that says: “SOURCE: Rockies have discussed Troy Tulowitzki trade with Team X.”

This what I try to remind myself when I hear reports like the one earlier this month that the New York Mets were “talking to the Rockies” about a Troy Tulowitzki trade. Or that the Rockies are “open to the idea,” or whatever else we heard and will hear.

Being open to the idea does not equal aggressively pursuing a trade. Talking about a trade does not mean that negotiations have gotten hot and heavy. The conflations of these various terms keep the conversation cooking, but they also create false urgency in certain cases where there is actually nothing happening.

My guess is that the Rockies are absolutely not going to trade Troy Tulowitzki this off-season. His value is down because of his hip surgery and the Rockies can still afford his yearly hit on their payroll, pending some creativity other places on the roster.

As somebody who hates the idea of Tulowitzki being traded, I try not to freak out at the vague rumors that continue to swirl. When I do, I remind myself that “talking” can go a whole lot of different directions, many of them leading nowhere.

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