Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez, that’s what. Both players saw their stock as baseball players rise to meteoric levels.
In 2010, Tulowitzki won his first Gold Glove award. Baseball Info Solutions gave him its Fielding Bible Award. He didn’t captivate the world just with his glove. He garnered much of his attention from his Ruthian September, in which he hit 15 home runs and had 40 RBI. Only Babe Ruth himself had a better singular month than Tulo.
The beautiful thing about him is that he is just 26 years old, and he plays a stellar shortstop. Health permitting, he should be considered the best overall shortstop in baseball. If you look at his 10-year $157.75 million contract, one should think that the Rockies got an incredible bargain on such a magnificently gifted athlete. He always will face doubters who question his ability to stay healthy, but he will never face doubters of his talents and abilities. His signing gives the Rocks a name they can build their franchise around. Denver isn’t a huge edifice of baseball, but the foresight and fortitude to find the cash to lock down a superstar of Tulowitzki’s caliber should be applauded, especially in a market dominated by the Northeast.
Don’t fall asleep on Gonzalez. Just recently George Karl of the Denver Nuggets, of all places, compared the “smoothness” of CarGo to that of the great Roberto Clemente. Where Karl errs in that comparison is that Gonzalez hit 34 home runs in 2010. Clemente’s career high for a single season was 29. Another possible difference is in that oh-so-lovely stolen base department. Gonzalez stole 26 bases in 2010; Clemente never swiped more than 12 in a single season. The batting average compares nicely. Gonzalez hit .336 last year, and Clemente was a career .317 hitter.............
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