Troy Tulowitzki Blockbuster Does Nothing to Change AL Playoff Picture

Johnny Cueto? Absolutely.

Jeff Samardzija? Fantastic.

But Toronto scooping up Troy Tulowitzki in a stunning late-night blockbuster? Are you kidding? What are the Blue Jays thinking? Did they fall into Lake Ontario and momentarily lose consciousness?

Was somebody messing with GM Alex Anthopoulos’ phone?

Toronto needs pitching, pitching and more pitching. And after that? Pitching. Toronto has the best run differential in the American League at plus-95. The next-closest team, Kansas City, is 20 away at plus-75.

The Jays lead the majors with 528 runs scored, a whopping 72 more than the New York Yankees, who are second at 456. Seventy-two!

The Blue Jays can score runs in their sleep, they can score runs while they eat, they can score runs on a boat or in a moat. Their offense would be Dr. Seuss’ favorite.

Yet they woke up to news of Tulowitzki’s acquisition on Tuesday in second place in the AL East, a middling 50-50, a full seven games behind the Yankees because...

Their pitching has more holes than an Arnold Schwarzenegger flick.

Uncredited/Associated Press

And yet here they are, acquiring one of the game’s best bats when he’s healthy, Troy Tulowitzki, and veteran reliever LaTroy Hawkins for shortstop Jose Reyes and three right-handed pitchers, Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco. And Hoffman was ranked by MLB.com as the third-best prospect in Toronto’s system.

Hawkins is a boon because Toronto’s bullpen, ranked 16th in the majors with a 3.47 ERA, can use some help. The Jays need a closer, and maybe Hawkins will help solve that problem. At the very least, his veteran presence will be an anchor for the youngsters.

But neither Tulo nor Hawkins is a starting pitcher, and being that Toronto’s rotation currently ranks 24th in the majors with a steaming 4.38 ERA, this is where we get back to Cueto. Or Samardzija. Or Mike Leake.

Or somebody who, you know, can solve Toronto’s by-far biggest problem.

No way this can be Toronto’s big move this week.

Anthopoulos must have other threads he’s following. Has to.

Right?

The only way this trade winds up helping Toronto is if adding Tulowitzki means someone else in the lineup, say, Jose Bautista, is dealt in a follow-up deal this week for, all together now, a starting pitcher. Then, things begin to make sense and the Blue Jays will have a chance to chase down the Yankees in the AL East.

That is what has to happen. Has to. The first part, the starting pitching part.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Anthopoulos has shown himself to be a shrewd GM over the past few years who isn’t afraid of the big deal. That’s how Mark Buehrle and Jose Reyes arrived in the first place (from Miami), how R.A. Dickey came to be a Blue Jay (from the Mets) and how Josh Donaldson crossed the border (from Oakland) in another stunning deal last winter.

The signing of catcher Russell Martin last winter was the first major free-agent deal for Toronto in several years and solidified the Blue Jays’ chances to win now.

So here we are, zooming toward the trade deadline with a Toronto franchise that is dragging with it the longest playoff drought among the four major North American sports leagues. The Jays haven’t set foot in October since 1993, when they last won a World Series. And their chance to return to the playoffs this year is tantalizingly within reach.

Tulowitzki, 30, like Donaldson and Martin, is a win-now move. Credit the Blue Jays for being aggressive and recognizing that their window to win is right now, this second.

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

But here’s another worry in this deal: Tulowitzki arrives with a significant history of leg issues. Quads. Groin. And Toronto’s artificial turf is notorious for being one of the worst playing surfaces in the majors, totally unforgiving. Reyes found it that way.

Measure Tulo vs. Reyes, and I’d rather have Tulo. His bat is more potent, defensively he’s an upgrade and, unlike Reyes, he’s a leader.

But all that considered, two things have to happen: Tulowitzki has to stay healthy, which isn’t a given (not that it was with Reyes either), and, more importantly, the Blue Jays have to find at least one, if not two, starting pitchers by Friday’s 4 p.m. ET trade deadline.

The Jays are on the clock as they try to push back into the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

Anthopoulos is on the clock as Friday’s deadline ticks closer.

Don’t be fooled as you watch Blue Jays round the bases in a blur and fly across home plate at a head-dizzying pace. They’ve got the best lineup in the majors and can outscore anybody. We already knew that.

But how can they keep the other guys from scoring?

So far, even after shocking the baseball world by acquiring Tulowitzki and Hawkins, that question remains unanswered.

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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