Today in Blue Jays History: Jays trade for Tulowitzki

Six years ago today:

The Blue Jays traded for Troy Tulowitzki.

The deal was: Tulowitzki and LaTroy Hawkins to the Rockies for Jose Reyes, Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro, and Jesus Tinoco.

It is one of those trades that worked at the time. We got to the playoffs. And we’ve finally reached the end of Tulo’s contract. Troy hit .250/.313/.414 in 36 home runs in 238 games over three seasons for the Jays. After we released him, he signed with the Yankees and managed 13 at-bats before going on the DL and retiring.

I wonder how his time with the Jays would have been without the terrible injury he suffered when his ankle rolled, slipping off first base (also on this day, back in 2017). He was 32 at the time. He could have had a few more good seasons and maybe built the raw numbers to get him close to a Hall of Fame career.

When he was healthy, he was fun to watch. The sidearm throws from short were things of beauty.

Hawkins pitched in 18 games for the Jays in 2015 and retired after the season. He had a 2.76 ERA in 16.1 innings. He didn’t have a good time in the playoffs, pitching in 3 games, 1.2 innings, allowing 7 earned runs.

The players that went to the Rockies:

Reyes finished the season hitting .259/.291/.368 for the Rockies. Jose got suspended for the start of the 2016 season for violating the domestic violence policy. At the end of the suspension, the Rockies released him. He signed with the Mets and had 3 mediocre seasons, and was let go after the 2018 season.

Hoffman was the big piece going to Denver. Unfortunately, he hasn’t lived up to his prospect status. In parts of 4 seasons, Jeff has a 6-15 record and a 6.11 ERA in 52 games, 38 stars. This year he is pitching for the Reds and has a 4.88 ERA in 13 games, 11 starts. He’s just back from the IL, and the Reds have moved him to the bullpen.

Castro didn’t do much for the Rockies, pitching in 24 games over two seasons, with a 7.20 ERA. So the Rockies traded him to the Orioles. Now he and a dozen other former Jays are playing for the Mets, and he’s doing a nice job in their bullpen.

Tinoco has spent most of his time, since the trade, in the Rockies minor league system. He got into 24 games in 2019. In 2020 he was traded to the Marlins, but he is back with the Rockies now, pitching in Triple-A

At the time, we liked the trade. Our poll was 75% liked it. 18% neutral, and 7% hate it.

It’s tough to say if the trade was a good thing or not. We needed to get rid of Reyes, and that was the trade available, and we did make the playoffs twice. Would we have without Tulo?

It seemed like the team needed to move on from Jose Reyes’ rather large contract, so the Jays picked up Tulo’s even larger contract. But, pennants fly forever.

Also, on this day, two years ago, Bo Bichette was called up, and baseball was much more fun.