The New York Yankees have agreed to terms of a contract that is the league minimum $555,000 with Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. The contract is at league minimum since he was still under contract with the Blue Jays and they released him still owing him money for this season, they’re going to pay Tulowitzki $20 million for the contract that he initially had with them. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported the deal and also followed up on what this means for the Yankees.
Free agent shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is in agreement on a deal with the New York Yankees pending a physical, league sources tell ESPN. Tulowitzki is expected to join the Yankees on a league-minimum deal, with the Toronto Blue Jays paying the remainder of his $20 million salary.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 2, 2019
Troy Tulowitzki is expected to play shortstop for the Yankees while Didi Gregorius recovers from Tommy John surgery. Important: This does not take the Yankees out of the Manny Machado sweepstakes, sources tell ESPN. Tulowitzki at the minimum salary was simply too good to pass up.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 2, 2019
The main takeaway from Passan’s recap is simple, the Yankees are not out of the Machado sweepstakes. It is simple enough that when you can get a player who has a track record like Tulowitzki for the league minimum you cannot pass it up. Tulowitzki is the perfect gamble of a replacement for the Yankees at shortstop since Gregorious will spend some time recovering from Tommy John Surgery.
Look at it this way, the Yankees are paying Tulowitzki $555,000 to possibly get back to his normal self and up his stats and simply be a stopgap for Didi Gregorious, if it goes well that’s a great investment and if it goes badly then your out $555,000 instead of a 2-3 year deal where you bring in a shortstop like Josh Harrison. Harrison would be a 2-3 year deal where you’d be stuck with him if he did bad and the contract would be much higher than the league minimum.
Tulowitzki is a five-time all-star who has spent his career with the Colorado Rockies, Toronto Blue Jays, and now Yankees. He has struggled with injuries and his career has been riddled with injuries in the past few years, his 2018 season accumulated 66 games played with a slash of .249/.300/.378 with 7 home runs and 26 RBI’s. The Yankees who lost in the ALDS to the Red Sox this past postseason are looking to get that extra push this offseason by making some moves like trading for James Paxton and bringing back JA Happ to help bridge that gap to a World Series victory. Taking a flier on Tulowitzki is a smart gamble by the Yankees but only time will tell how well it pays off.
