Anything is possible. The Toronto Blue Jays proved as much Monday night by acquiring star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in a stunning trade that no one in baseball saw coming.
Certainly not Tulowitzki, whose Hall-of-Fame-caliber career has bizarrely come full circle more than 10 years after getting bypassed by the Blue Jays in the first round of the 2005 draft.
Blue Jays fans often wonder what life would have been like with Tulowitzki patrolling the left side of second base at Rogers Centre. They're about to find out.
The acquisition of Tulowitzki follows a recent pattern by Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos: Get the best player available at any position and sort out your strengths and weaknesses later. From a run-producing standpoint, it's a strategy that's been extremely effective.
Notable SS Through Age-30 Season
| Player | PA | HR | AVG | OPS+ | BWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Rodriguez | 7774 | 464 | .305 | 145 | 84.9 |
| Cal Ripken | 7092 | 259 | .279 | 126 | 69.0 |
| Ernie Banks | 5205 | 298 | .290 | 138 | 54.8 |
| Derek Jeter | 6244 | 150 | .315 | 120 | 44.6 |
| Nomar Garciaparra | 4530 | 182 | .322 | 132 | 42.4 |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 4410 | 188 | .299 | 124 | 39.6 |
| Hanley Ramirez | 5272 | 191 | .300 | 132 | 36.5 |
Tulowitzki joins a right-handed heavy lineup full of All-Stars and MVP-type performers, one that's put up a staggering 72 runs more than the next closest team this season. Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Russell Martin, and Tulowitzki. Does it even matter who the other four hitters are?
Perhaps a better question to ask is: Does it even matter who the five starting pitchers are?
The Blue Jays were believed to be pursuing rotation help this week, though dealing for Tulowitzki doesn't necessarily mean they won't. They did, however, just inherit more than $50 million in future salary, while trading away a pair of well-regarded prospects for an oft-injured superstar who will play half of his games on turf. That's as glass-half-empty as it gets for Toronto.
By adding Tulowitzki, Anthopoulos has once again bet the over. If he can't acquire the pitcher he wants, he's resolved to build a lineup capable of overwhelming its way to wins. Despite owning the third-worst ERA and WAR among AL starting rotations, the Blue Jays have hit their way to the second-best record in the majors when adjusted for run differential.
Tulowitzki, a five-time All-Star, has created nearly 40 percent more runs than Jose Reyes over the last three seasons, and his defense (he's saved 41 more runs according to FanGraphs over that same stretch) is a significant upgrade over the now-former Blue Jays shortstop. The positional upgrade alone could be enough to start swinging Toronto's unlucky one-run record (10-21) the other way.
The focus, however, will now shift to the Blue Jays' next move, though Anthopoulos's modus operandi is apparently impossible to decipher. He's just as likely to trade for David Price tomorrow as he is to trust this ragtag rotation down the stretch.
Only three teams in the last 20 years have failed to qualify for the playoffs after leading the league in runs. Toronto's on pace this season to become the fourth.
At this point, it's difficult to fathom the Blue Jays trading away more of their top prospects in their efforts to acquire an ace, but just like the 2005 draft, Donaldson trade, and Martin signing, anything is possible in baseball. After all, the Blue Jays just traded for Troy Tulowitzki. There's nothing predictable about that.