Troy Tulowitzki reportedly open to changing positions after all

What a difference a slight change in perspective makes.

After being unceremoniously released on Tuesday by the Toronto Blue Jays, the newest free agent in baseball is reportedly open to ideas that seemed far fetched as little as 24 hours ago.

Yes, after literally years of push-back on the idea of moving off of his traditional post at shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki is reportedly now open to changing positions if it means being able to sign with a winning team.

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins was uncharacteristically frank earlier this month regarding Tulowitzki’s ability to have a healthy and productive year in 2019, saying, “Candidly, and I think Troy would agree, that’s not likely… that doesn’t mean he’s not going to do it, but candidly I don’t think that’s likely.”

As recently as August, Tulowitzki held steadfast to his claim that he would return as a starting shortstop in 2019 and that he had no interest in moving to a new spot in the field, going so far to say he would ”welcome anything. If someone’s better than me, I’ll pack my bags and go home.”

It turns out that’s exactly what ended up happening.

Even if the Athletics turn out to be a match and he’s willing to try out playing on the other side of second base, it remains to be seen how much value the 34-year-old can provide with even the rosiest of projections. He was one of the slowest shortstops in all of baseball when he last stepped foot on a Major League field, and has since had surgery to fix bone spurs in both of his ankles.

For Oakland it may feel like a low-risk proposition based on name alone, but the reality is that even before ankle surgery Tulowitzki’s career was winding down and he was really a shadow of being the five-time all-star he was during his peak days with the Colorado Rockies.

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