Troy Tulowitzki knew he could be traded before Friday’s deadline, but the former Colorado Rockies shortstop apparently expected a little more warning than what he received.
According to Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post, Tulowitzki heard of the deal with the Toronto Blue Jays when he was removed during the ninth inning of Monday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.
Per Saunders, Tulowitzki said he was shocked to find out in that manner:
“I felt like I got blindsided a bit. I thought I was in the loop, in the conversation. So it definitely caught me by surprise. I was shocked and it caught me off guard. I think maybe I was a little naive to think I would be so connected to the (trade) process.”
Tulowitzki may have anticipated a little more transparency from the front office, but it’s not surprising that he wasn’t alerted of the trade sooner. Constantly updating Tulo between innings wouldn’t have been fair, mostly because it seems unlikely he’d be able to forget about a distraction of such importance.
Colorado acquired shortstop Jose Reyes and a trio of right-handed pitchers in Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman and Jesus Tinoco in exchange for relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins and Tulowitzki.
The five-time All-Star ended his 10-year tenure with the Rockies in the top five of several franchise leaderboards: hits, doubles, home runs, RBI and walks.
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