TORONTO — In his introductory news conference Wednesday afternoon, new Blue Jays’ shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said he hopes his new club will also look to add pitching before Friday’s non-waiver trade deadline.
“Pitching is the name of the game for me,” the 30-year-old said before making his Jays’ debut against the Philadelphia Phillies.
“… I know they have talked about getting another arm and that’s a priority, but at the same time when you’ve got an offense that’s as good as this one, it can carry you. So I think, hopefully pitching gets addressed and they had an arm, or if they don’t the offense can win ball games as well.”
The Jays acquired the five-time all-star early Tuesday morning in a blockbuster trade with the Colorado Rockies for . The trade was surprising in that the Jays — who already boast the highest-scoring offense in the majors — were believed to be targeting pitching upgrades before Friday’s deadline.
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But in Tulowitzki they acquired arguably the best offensive shortstop in baseball who also has a pair of Gold Gloves to his name. The California native has spent his entire career with the Rockies, emerging as the franchise cornerstone and signing a long-term deal that was supposed to keep him in Colorado through 2020.
“I played with passion for 10 years and played as hard as I could and fans took me under their wing when I was a young player,” he said. “So yeah, I definitely left everything I had there as far as on a day-to-day basis of giving it all I got, but hey, this is a new chapter in my career, I’m excited about being a Blue Jay, I’m excited about this city of Toronto and bringing back winning, hopefully. That really is the key for me is going to a place where I can win games.”
After enduring five straight losing seasons in Colorado, Tulowitzki said he was looking forward to joining a contender in Toronto.
“I know they’re in win-now mode, so that excites me. I know they’re right in the thick of things and no one has really ran away with (the division), so I’m excited about that. It’s not like I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s try this thing out for two months here and see what we’ve got,’ I come in this locker room expecting to win, to not say, ‘Okay, well next year this is what we’re going to do.’ Right now we can win, guys in the locker room know that and I’m just excited to be a part of it.”
