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Keeping Troy Tulowitzki Is The Bold Move For The Rockies

By Hayden Kane

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What should the Colorado Rockies do in response to all of the crazy moves in the National League West? Keep Troy Tulowitzki, that’s what.

The San Diego Padres pulled off an impressive feat in the last two weeks. By executing a flurry of moves that landed them Justin Upton, Matt Kemp, and Wil Myers, they moved beyond the world of baseball news to the national radar. They were an actual topic on daily sports shows that normally reserve their time for Johnny Manziel and Tony Romo.

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What they also did was something that won’t be noticed beyond the division in which they play: the Padres freaked out the rest of the National League West. In the Rockies’ case, these moves created suddenly pressing questions about why the Rockies have done nothing this off-season.

Nothing!

Certainly there is work to be done between now and the end of the winter, but if we are talking about the Rockies in the context of moves the Padres made to improve their lineup while also trying to figure out how to keep up with the Dodgers and Giants, there is one move the Rockies must make that is so easy, really.

Keep Troy Tulowitzki.

Yes, there is injury risk. I get it. But every bold move comes with some risk. It is risky for the Rockies to keep Tulo and hope he stays healthy just like it would be risky to trade him and hope that the value that came in return proved to be worth it. Given the uncertainty of young talent, and especially the young pitchers that the Rockies would presumably want for Tulo, I continue to argue it is far less risky to keep him.

If we are spooked by the action around the rest of the division, the best answer the Rockies have is the upside of a healthy Troy Tulowitzki season. If Tulo stays healthy, the Rockies might have the National League MVP. That upside more than cancels out whatever Kemp, Upton, and Myers will do in San Diego, and it gives the Rockies more of a fighting chance against the Dodgers or Giants than any other option.

Consider it this way.

When national writers try to wish a Troy Tulowitzki trade into existence by opining about the reasons the Rockies might want to trade him and then noting the hot scoop rumor obvious fact that teams ask the Rockies what it would take to trade for him, they pretend Troy Tulowitzki is just like any other high-priced, aging professional baseball player. As Grant Bisbee and RhodeIslandRoxFan at Purple Row, among others, have noted in recent days, Tulo is not just any (not-that-expensive) aging player.

Troy Tulowitzki is that much better when he’s healthy. That makes it worth the injury risk, infuriating though it is, for the Rockies to keep Tulowitzki both in their efforts to keep up in the NL West and in their efforts to build a better team in the seasons beyond 2015.

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