Most people who make $20 million a year shouldn’t have a whole lot to complain about. However, the Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has somehow managed to find his situation unbearable despite his generous compensation.
After a superb first four seasons in the majors, Tulowitski signed a 10 year, $157 million contract with the Rockies following the 2010 season. Since that time, Tulowitzki has had trouble staying on the field. In fact, he’s missed a total of 222 games over the last three seasons. The 30-year-old shortstop has been plagued with a broken wrist, a groin injury, broken ribs, a torn labrum, and a season-ending hip injury in 2014.
Despite being injury-prone, when Tulowitzki is able to stay healthy, there is no question he is one of the best players in the game. He’s finished in the top five in NL MVP voting twice, won two Gold Gloves, and was hitting .340 with 21 home runs and 52 RBIs when his 2014 season came to an end.
Tulowitzki hasn’t officially asked the Rockies for a trade but rumors have been circulating since early spring that two sides may part ways.
Reports state that Tulowitzki will meet with his agent, Paul Cohen on Thursday to discuss if he will officially request a trade. The question is then, what team would make a play at the disgruntled shortstop?
It will be a hard sell for the Rockies to try and unload Tulowitzki for any kind of value. The Mariners, Mets, Yankees, Pirates, and Padres are all possible landing spots, but it will be hard for the Rockies to get any sort of top talent in return. When you consider that Tulowitzki is a 30-year-old shortstop that may not be able to play the position much longer, he has a long history of injuries, and the inflation of his offensive numbers in Coors Field, the Rockies may have to sell low.
The kicker is if he is traded, he will have a full no-trade protection for the remainder of his contract and he is owed $114 million over the next six seasons. It is possible the Rockies missed their best shot at trading Tulowitzki this offseason and will now have to hope the injury-prone shortstop can stay healthy long enough to entice a desperate contender at the trade deadline.
It’s not hard to understand why Tulowitzki wants out of Colorado. He’s an All-Star player on a team that is clearly in the middle of a rebuilding process. It makes perfect sense for both sides to part ways. It’s confusing why the Rockies haven’t already made this happen. The Rockies are currently 11-18 on the season, in the midst of a 10-game losing streak, haven’t finished above .500 since 2010 and have missed the playoffs each of the last five seasons.
Why wouldn’t Tulowitzki want out? He’s 30 years old and undoubtedly wants to play in another World Series before he hangs up the cleats.
A sympathetic person might even feel bad for him. He’s stuck playing for a terrible team for what will be the rest of his career. But remember, he signed the contract and gets paid $20 million a year just to show up.