The Yankees Sign Troy Tulowitzki For Free Because Why Not?
Do you like free things? Sure you do. When Chipotle says they’re giving away free burritos on Halloween you head there dressed in a costume because free shit is awesome. Well, what if I told you the Yankees could sign a former gold glove shortstop and five time all star for absolutely free. Would that be something you’d be interested in?
*Checks notes…
Yes, it would! That’s what just happened with the New York Yankees. They have acquired Troy Tulowitzki, a man who wore number 2 in honor of his idol Derek Jeter, for nothing. Simpletons are out on the Twittersphere saying this is it for Machado and that the Yanks are out of the race. Well, I’m here to tell you to relax. Tulo is a 34 year old often injured shortstop past his prime. Long gone are the MVP candidate days from the Rockies which made every Yankee fan dream of him taking over Jeter’s throne at shortstop. He doesn’t change the Yankees quest for Machado, but adding him for nothing certainly doesn’t hurt at all. If he shows in spring he’s got nothing left then you simply cut him because he’s free. If he has some life you give him a shot and see if you can get a flash in the pan to hold you over until the Knighted One returns around August. It’s pretty much the most low risk high reward move you can do. Why pass that up?
So what does this mean in the grand scheme of things? Not a crazy lot. You would assume this means no Neil Walker or Hech for 2019. When you’re dangling a ton of money in front of Manny Machado it would be ideal to save money where you can. Getting a guy for the league minimum (a little more than $500k) to do what Neil Walker or Hechavaria would do for $4 million isn’t the worst of ideas. I do love Neil Walker so that’s kind of a bummer if this is the end, but if it results in Manny Machado then I’ll live.
It does create an interesting situation with Miguel Andujar. If Manny signs I thought he would be the guy at short until Didi came back, but this would make you think otherwise. Manny would appear to be the third baseman now, leaving Andujar to look elsewhere position wise. He could go across the diamond to first. He could go to DH and force Stanton to play the outfield more. Or the Yankees could do what I’ve thought they would do and eventually trade him. To where and for what I have no clue. They have five starting pitchers right now, but getting a big name like Bumgarner or Kluber could make CC Sabathia’s role interesting in that equation. Andujar is expendable at the end of the day. If the trade is right, you do it as awesome a bat as he is.
Bottom line, signing a 34 year old Tulo doesn’t change anything about the Manny Machado sweepstakes. If it was 2011 then we’re talking, but not in 2019 (I haven’t messed up the year yet). That’s likely why you clicked on the blog. Andujar and Neil Walker’s situations are now up in the air. We’re still all in the waiting game for Machado. Something I expect to know the answer to by the end of Friday (gut feeling).
P.S. Shout out to White Sox Dave for the Tulo scoop a few days ago.
Now go enjoy some Tulo web gems.
