Tulowitzki buyout gives Jays ‘flexibility’
LAS VEGAS• In describing the end of the Troy Tulowitzki era as a Toronto Blue Jay on Tuesday, Ross Atkins managed to keep a straight face.
The team’s general manager twice said that the 34-year-old shortstop was “unbelievably professional and respectful” when informed his services would no longer be required at the Rogers Centre and anywhere else the team plays. Which prompts the question: who wouldn’t be professional and respectful after getting paid out a whopping US$38 million to be set free to pursue further major league employment with any other team in baseball?
Ultimately, however, the Jays felt it was prudent to continue moving away from the recent successes and further towards the youth movement that is well underway.
“Where we are today and taking stock is not where we ideally as an organization wanted to be with Troy Tulowitzki and certainly not what Troy planned either,” Atkins said. “It gives us roster flexibility and both (the team and player) to be more proactive.”
Atkins and his boss, team president Mark Shapiro, surely must have had to swallow hard when they went to the upper echelon bean counters at Rogers Communications with the proposition of such a massive buyout.
But they presumably did so with the spin that the future was worth expediting, no matter the cost.
“Supportive,” was how Atkins described the conversation going down. “Obviously you have to explain our rationale and there are many conversations that have been had, not just one. I don’t want to get into an accounting discussion but that money’s on our books.”
A week ago, Atkins said Tulowitzki would have to “earn” his playing time despite declarations from the smooth fielding shortstop last summer that he would pack his bags if he wasn’t the starter.
Then on Monday Atkins praised Tulowitzki for the condition he was in and all but declared him fully recovered from surgery to both of his heels that caused him to miss the entire 2018 season. Perhaps that was a last-ditch effort to dupe another team into making an offer for Tulowitzki but, alas, there were no takers.
A key part of the Jays’ run to the Jays 2015 playoff appearance, Tulowitzki battled injury throughout his time with the Jays. And now like Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson he’s a distant memory, as is the money former GM Alex Anthopoulos spent on the stars.