Much speculation has been swirling around Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki after he was seen sitting in the crowd at Yankee Stadium on Sunday watching New York finish their series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Did this foreshadow a potential trade between Colorado and New York?
The answer is probably not. Tulowitzki is a franchise player and the Yankees have nothing to offer the Rockies if they were to explore a trade (New York only has two prospects in the top 100 based on MLB.com's rankings). And with the direction the Yankees are heading, they're not going to want to completely gut their farm system (if it isn't already) for just one player, despite Tulowitzki's superior talent. New York is going to have to make it work with the players they signed in the offseason: Jacoby Ellsbury (seven years), Brian McCann (five years), and Carlos Beltran (three years).
Tulowitzki merely attended the Yankees' series finale against the Blue Jays on Sunday because he was going to see his hip doctor in Philadelphia on Monday. With that being said, it's also believed Tulowitzki wanted to elicit anger from the Rockies front office in attending the game in New York, but Colorado has not expressed interest in trading the shortstop. According to reports, the St. Louis Cardinals inquired about his availability and the New York Mets are willing to offer their top pitching prospect, Noah Syndergaard, in a package deal. Unless Tulowitzki comes out and tells the Rockies he wants a trade, the team's front office likely won't deal him before Thursday.
"Can we call a moratorium on Troy Tulowitzki rumors this week?" writes ESPN's Jayson Stark. "Teams that have checked in on him say they've been told Rockies ownership is adamantly opposed to moving both him and Carlos Gonzalez, at least for now."
As for Derek Jeter - Troy Tulowitki's idol as he was aspiring to become a baseball player - the Yankees shortstop passed Carl Yastrzemski to become the seventh on the all-time hits list with 3,420. In a 4-2 loss on Monday night against Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers, Jeter went 3 for 4 with a walk and is now ten hits away from passing Honus Wagner to become sixth on the illustrious list. Tris Speaker is fifth on the list with 3,514 hits, but it's unlikely Jeter will be able to reach that milestone before the season ends.
Despite speculation, the Yankees are focused on acquiring a pitcher before Thursday's 4 p.m. trade deadline and John Danks has been rumored as their primary target. Sitting at 54-51, New York is 4.5 games out of first place in the AL East and two games out of the wild card race. General manager Brian Cashman has done a good job of temporarily solving the team's injury woes, but the Yankees will need to keep up with the Blue Jays, Angels, and Orioles who remain ahead of them in the division/wild card race.
