Colorado Rockies lose 10th straight, time to trade Troy Tulowitzki

This too shall pass.

As the Colorado Rockies dropped their 10th straight game, a heartbreaker in Anaheim 5-2, it would be hard to find a happy Rockies fan.

The loss wasn’t the only reason why Rockies fans might be a little somber. Earlier in the day, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that Rockies star Troy Tulowitzki is scheduled to have a breakfast with his agent, Paul Cohen when the team is in Los Angeles over the weekend. The topic of the breakfast will reportedly be if it is time to ask the Rockies for a trade.

The report is salt on the wound for the ailing Rockies fan.

For Rockies fans, something might need to be addressed. It might be time to pull the trigger on a deal that involves the team’s best shortstop in club history.

Make no mistake, that isn’t something to be taken lightly. Tulowitzki is the best shortstop in baseball when he is healthy. He possesses every single characteristic of a player who a team would want to build around. Despite his $20 million annual salary through 2020, that type of money really isn’t that ridiculous to swallow for a superstar in the big leagues. Most teams would be expecting to pay that type of money for a star.

The reason that it is time to pull the trigger on a trade is because Tulowitzki, with the help of his agent, is making it clear that he doesn’t want to be in Colorado any longer. He is tired of losing, he is tired of playing behind poor pitching, and he is tired of a franchise that seems to be lost in the rebuilding process.

Tulowitzki has had a prickly relationship with fans for some time now. People often wonder how a superstar can have so many detractors. However, there are plenty of reasons, and they all point back to Tulowitzki’s behavior.

It seemed to start on the day when Ubaldo Jimenez was traded in 2011. In the clubhouse after the game, Tulowitzki told the media that he was excited about the guys who were coming in return for the Rockies ace. He didn’t have nice things to say about Jimenez. While the relationship between Jimenez and the Rockies was strained, the comments to the media were misguided considering the circumstances.

Later that same season, the Rockies lost a home contest to the Dodgers 6-2. Jason Hammel started for the Rockies and gave up four runs in the 1st inning. After the game, Tulowitzki was on camera saying that it is really difficult to play in a game when your starter gives up four runs before the offense has a chance to bat.

The thing is, nothing Tulowitzki said was incorrect. However, it was in poor taste. Jimenez had allowed contract negotiations to affect his play. Hammel had let his team down. But to call them both out to the media, just minutes after the respective games had ended, was uncalled for.

Moments like that make fans turn their back on a guy like Tulowitzki because it suggests, whether Tulo means for it to or not, that the losing is everyone else’s fault. It suggests that, despite being on the teams that lost 90 plus games, that it is everyone else’s fault besides his.

None of Tulowitzki’s teammates were on camera saying that the team may be able to get into a rhythm at the plate if their star shortstop was able to play 10 straight games without having to sit out with “heavy legs.” No one has called Tulowitzki out for being frail and consistently getting hurt.

Fans might be over the top with some of their anger towards Tulowitzki, but the reality is this, fans aren’t fans of just a player, they are fans of the team. When a player on the team starts pointing fingers at the other members of that team, it can come across as an attack on that team.

With Tulowitzki’s agent talking about it being time to request a trade for “obvious reasons” as is stated in the New York Post piece, it insinuates that Tulowitzki has no part in the current failings of the 2015 Colorado Rockies. It ignores that coming into Tuesday night’s game, Tulowitzki was the proud owner of just a .317 on-base percentage, which is the result of walking just twice all season long while striking out 23 times. It ignores the fact that Tulo has homered just twice and had a pedestrian 10 runs batted in heading into Tuesday’s game where he picked up his 11th RBI. It also ignores that Tulo has racked up four errors in just over a month.

While basketball is a different sport with different scenarios, leadership is still the same. Listen to LeBron James talk to the media after games. When his team loses, he says nothing about his teammates failures, he only talks about where he failed his team. When the team wins he doesn’t talk about the plays he made, he points to his teammates successes. That makes him endearing to the fans, and it would be easy to assume that his teammates appreciate it.

For the Rockies, things are so bad that it might simply be time to make a change. Sure, Tulo is one of the best five players in the game, but what does that matter if the team isn’t going to be in a position to challenge for a postseason spot before the decline in Tulowitzki’s career? Essentially, the Rockies can be just as bad without him as they can be with him. If he doesn’t want to be in Colorado, the Rockies should get something out of him.

Turning the page on the Tulowitzki era would also give themselves a chance to rebrand themselves. It would give guys like Nolan Arenado and Corey Dickerson a chance to become the face of the franchise. It would also potentially free up enough money to sign those guys beyond their arbitration years.

Fans, whether they personally like Tulowitzki or not, have been on edge about the team getting rid of him for several years. The idea that him being on the team gives fans some hope that the Rockies might actually be contenders. The more those hopes turn into a mirage every year, the more fans feel that the window is closing.

Maybe if the window was shut for the fans and the team, a different window, or even a door, might be discovered.

A Tulowitzki trade would give the Rockies a fresh start. Of course they would be much worse without him, but at some point the Rockies have been desperately holding onto their model that they can with with Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez that it might force them to start thinking a little bit differently.

The Rockies are in a tough spot. they clearly aren’t in a position to contend in 2015, but they feel that they have done things to improve and that they have some solid prospects in the minor leagues that could turn their fortunes around soon. However, their star is over the waiting game and wants out.

If Tulowitzki wants to go somewhere else, the Rockies should give him his wish and get on with their rebuilding process. At some point, the pain of losing a superstar will pass and the Rockies can move into the future.