New York Yankees: What Troy Tulowitzki in pinstripes means – no impact on Manny

The New York Yankees and free-agent Troy Tulowitzki have agreed to a league-minimum deal pending a physical, but what does this mean?

The New York Yankees have made a free agent splash by signing Troy Tulowitzki. He might not the player we thought we would see, but it’s likely to happen.

The Yankees and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki have agreed to a league minimum deal, meaning Tulo will be playing in the Bronx for at least the 2019 season.

Troy Tulowitzki to New York has been something everyone expected to happen at some point over the course of his career.

Tulo grew up a Yankees fan and in his locker he always hangs a picture of his idol, Derek Jeter.

Not only did he have a picture of Jeter, but he also wore the number two because of the captain.

This being said, Tulo to the Bronx is a match made in heaven and it was only a matter of time before it happened. Even if it this is towards the end of Tulo’s career.

But what does it mean for the Yankees in the big picture?

The Yankees are heavily going after top free-agent Manny Machado who is a shortstop/third-baseman.

So, if the Yankees signed Tulowitzki, does it mean they think they’re gonna miss out on Machado?

Or does it simply mean they are adding some insurance with Didi Gregorius out until at least June?

According to Jeff Passan, who broke the news about the signing, it is expected that Tulowitzki will simply be playing short until Gregorius gets back, and the signing does not take the Yankees out of the running for Manny Machado.

Troy Tulowitzki is a fantastic player, and even though he has fallen off a bit since being traded to the Blue Jays, largely thanks to injuries, he is a great signing at minimum salary.

Tulo is a five-time all-star and he is a very consistent hitter who can also hit the long bomb, in addition to his stellar defense.

Just two seasons ago, in 2016 before he got injured, Tulowitzki had a .254 batting average with 24 home runs and 79 RBIs.

This being said, if Tulowitzki can stay healthy then the Yankees might have struck gold at nearly no cost.

To put those numbers into perspective, in 2018 Didi Gregorius had a .268 batting average with 27 home runs and 86 RBIs, being paid $8.25 million.

The only reason the Yankees got Tulowitzki at the league minimum was because he only played 66 games in 2017, and not a single game in 2018.

So the signing is a bit of a gamble, as the Yankees can only hope he can get back to his former self.

But again, if he doesn’t it will have costed them nearly nothing.

The Yankees may have also struck gold with the signing of Troy Tulowitzki, but only time will tell.

As for what this means with Manny Machado, I wouldn’t worry about it.

In my personal opinion, Machado to the Yanks is nearly a done deal and he continues to drop hints about just that.

A couple of weeks ago it was reported that Machado was telling his close friends that if the deals were somewhat similar he would sign with the Yankees.

Then the other day Machado followed the Yankees Entertainment Station (YES) on Instagram.

Now, this may not mean anything, but why would he follow YES if he intended on signing with the Phillies?

Whatever it may be, the signing of Troy Tulowitzki shouldn’t impact the signing of Manny Machado in the slightest, and it was a fantastic signing for the Bronx Bombers.