Troy Tulowitzki being dealt was guaranteed to be a sure fire hit for the team acquiring him.

Yet, this blockbuster – which sent Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins from Colorado to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Jose Reyes and three pitching prospects – comes off as a bit of a head scratcher.

It’s almost as if late the other night, Toronto’s front office was having a team building session at a local watering hole and someone randomly chimed in and said, “Let’s add another bat, eh?”

Don’t mistake the tone here: Troy Tulowitzki is THE premier shortstop in baseball today.  He’s arguably the best offensive bat at the position and one of the premier defensive players, too.

When it comes to Toronto’s offense, the rich most definitely got richer. 

The only knock on Tulo has been the simple fact that he can’t stay on the field regularly.  Just look at the total number of games over the last five seasons (2010-2014): 122, 143, 47, 126 and 91.  Bear in mind, he has managed to play in 87 of 99 games this season, but will now be playing regularly on Toronto’s artificial turf, which could cause some complications for a somewhat fragile frame.

But the question isn’t so much on Tulowitzki (heck, he hit a HR and had two doubles in his debut earlier tonight), but instead with the 2015 Blue Jays, a team that clearly didn’t need any additional help offensively.  As of earlier today, Toronto led all of Major League Baseball with 530 runs.  In fact, no other team in either league had yet to pass the 500 mark.

Troy Tulowitzki Blue Jays

Troy Tulowitzki smacks home run, has three hits in Blue Jays debut

That’s why the movement of three pitching prospects is a bit puzzling for a team that clearly didn’t have any issues scoring runs.  It’s especially puzzling when two of the three prospects (Jeff Hoffman – 3rd, Miguel Castro – 9th) were listed in Toronto’s top ten prospect list, according to Baseball America.

thewife

WIFE SPEAK: When asking THE WIFE what she thought of the Troy Tulowitzki trade, she simply replied, “Too-low-what-what-what?”

One reason for the move could be to prevent other teams from acquiring him, mainly the Yankees, who had been flirting with the idea of acquiring Tulowitzki for quite some time now.

The courtship became a hot rumor once the news broke that Derek Jeter was retiring.

The deal reeks of a team like the 2001 Texas Rangers, fourth in runs (890) and first in home runs (246), but dead last in team ERA (5.71).  Texas was loaded with big boppers like Pudge Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez and Michael Young.  That team finished last in the AL West and the 2002 Texas Rangers were a similar bunch.

Once the Rangers added more pitching, the franchise reached the next level.  The 2010 Rangers (10th in MLB – 3.93 ERA) and 2011 Rangers (13th in MLB – 3.79 ERA) each made it to the World Series.

The odd connection to all of this?  It’s R.A. Dickey, who was on that ’01 Rangers team and is on this year’s Toronto squad.  He joins Mark Buehrle at the top of a starting rotation that is ranked 23rd in baseball – and that’s the whole point.

Toronto needs an anchor to its rotation, because plain and simple, great pitching almost always beats great hitting in the playoffs.  Just look at the likes of Madison Bumgarner, Curt Schilling, Jon Lester, Randy Johnson and even… wait for it… Cole Hamels – a popular trade deadline target in 2015.

That’s a popular trade target that per Jon Morosi of Fox Sports, has reportedly been dealt from Philadelphia to…wait for it, again… you guessed it, the Texas Rangers.

That leaves another big arm likely off the market.

So, Troy Tulowitzki? 

A great player that Canada will love?  YES.

A hockey-like name, too?  YES.  

But is he the player that Toronto really needs at the current time?

That’s a question for debate.  But statistically, it just does not make sense.