Should i drop troy tulowitzki

It is his 10th trip to the disabled list in the past 13 seasons. He was cleared to resume "light baseball activities" the last week of April, but his debut awaits. He played along with the baseball card photographer during spring training, following instructions to the letter even though through 1, career major league games over 13 seasons, covering 5, plate appearances and five All-Star Games, he had never pitched in a game.

Not once. But in high school, I think everyone pitches," Tulowitzki quipped. The photographer thinks Tulo is a pitcher??!! Does he still have anything left? Anything in the tank? That's cool. Rightfully so. That's their job. But I appreciate that because it gives me the feeling to keep on wanting to go. He didn't play in a Grapefruit League game during spring training because of the bone spur in his right heel, which started giving him problems as he rehabbed this winter, trying to come back from surgery to repair ankle ligaments torn in a game in July.

That injury occurred as he crossed first base while attempting to beat out a ground ball. On the play, he stepped on the foot of the Los Angeles Angels' C. It was the latest in a remarkable string of frequent and jaw-dropping injuries that started in Torn tendon in left quadriceps. Right hand laceration. Fractured left wrist. Strained left groin muscle. Fractured right rib cage. Left hip injury. Strained right quadriceps. Cracked left shoulder blade. Chip fracture in right thumb. Somewhere along the line, Tulowitzki became more like a med school lab project than a major league shortstop.

The people who know him best, those who have lockered next to him or played against him, simply shake their heads in disbelief.

He was the best player on our team. The fans in Denver are once again getting fed up. There's talk about boycotting Coors Field to make a point to an ownership that has not only remained steadfastly and irrationally against trading its two big-name stars but also has opened itself to criticism by calling out the fanbase itself. In short, the Rockies' awful—and already lost—season is reaggravating an already tense situation between the ownership and tired-of-losing fanbase, with new GM Bridich caught in the middle as the one person who could lose all kinds of leverage as soon as news breaks that Tulowitzki has asked for or demanded a trade.

In fact, Tulowitzki made noise last July when he opened up about the idea of getting out of Colorado so that he could " be somewhere where there's a chance to be in the playoffs every single year," as he told Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post. Thing is, Tulowitzki is not an especially sought-after commodity at the moment. Sure, he's one of the five or 10 best players in baseball when he's healthy and playing well, especially considering he handles a premium up-the-middle position.

But this also is a year-old who, due to a lengthy injury history, has played more than games just three times in eight would-be full seasons and parts of 10 total seasons. And here comes Tulo, who starts much deeper than Carroll, and frankly was not very close to the third base-shortstop hole when the ball was hit. The 50, at Coors Field knew they had just watched a special connection, the veteran franchise player combining with the heir to his throne, this precocious, mullet-sporting shortstop oozing with swagger, to give a football city their first chance at a baseball title.

As the Tulo experience at-large would unfold, the potential burned brightest at the beginning. But, as Posnanski points out, the eleven players most often mentioned in response to his prompt were all outfielders. In the infield, Posnanski thinks A-Rod to be the finest and perhaps only five-tool player.

Tulo had the chance to join him in that club. He was that good. He completed the 13th unassisted triple play in baseball history as a rookie. And, oh, Tulo was a menace at the plate. From , he hit. Even by cumulative numbers and awards, Tulowitzki was blowing past the next-best shortstops. In , with only 91 contests to his name, Tulo somehow finished sixth among NL position players in wins above replacement WAR. One of the great tragedies in recent baseball history is that the Rockies could never give their lineup the pitching help it deserved.

But to call their rotation and bullpen during this period below average would be an insult to mediocrity, and the Rockies could never outhit their pitching woes enough to earn a playoff berth after We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.

To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. The shortstop has retired at 34 after a series of injuries, cutting short a career that, at times, seemed destined for the Hall of Fame. Picture the perfect baseball player being built from scratch. The perfect baseball player, in other words, was Troy Tulowitzki.

On Thursday, he made his departure from the sport official, announcing his retirement in a statement released through the team. He retires as one of the four best Rockies in franchise history and one of the most exciting players on any team of the past 15 years. He never played a defensive inning at any position other than short.

He turned an unassisted triple play as a rookie and mastered the art of the in-the-hole jump throw.