Yankees: How will the signing of Troy Tulowitzki affect Manny Machado?

Late Monday night the Yankees reportedly agreed to one-year deal with five-time All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki for the veteran’s minimum. The deal is pending a physical but once it’s finalized Tulo projects to be the Yankees starting shortstop until Didi Gregorius can return from injury.

The move to sign Tulowitzki was a bit of a surprise but if he can find a way to stay healthy in 2019 this could be a big low-risk, high reward move for the Yankees.

Before injuries really started to plague his career with the Blue Jays Tulo was arguably the best shortstop in the game during his years with the Colorado Rockies. He was a force offensively hitting in the heart of the order and was also one of the best defenders in baseball at his position. However, over the last two seasons, he’s only played in 66 games which is one of the reasons the Jays release him even though they still owe him $38 million over the next two years.

The Yankees were one of many teams who attended a recent workout/showcase for Tulowitzki and obviously were impressed enough to sign him. It’s interesting that Tulo chose to sign with New York considering there were probably opportunities elsewhere for him to play every day and earn close to 600 at-bats over a full season. With Didi’s impending return that’s no guarantee with the Yankees but as most of us know Tulowitzki has always dreamed of wearing the pinstripes and grew up idolizing Yankees legend and former shortstop Derek Jeter.

The main takeaway from the Tulo news is the report that this doesn’t at all take the Yankees out of the running to sign superstar free agent Manny Machado.

The Yanks are one of three teams in play for Machado and many believe they are the favorites to land him. Machado reportedly prefers to play for the Yankees so if they offer him a deal close to his asking price he’ll probably choose them over Philly or Chicago (White Sox).

Even though the Yankees say the Tulo signing won’t impact the Machado sweepstakes I can’t help but think that’s not true. I do believe they’re still going to make a strong push for Machado, but now that they already have a fallback option in Tulowitzki I don’t think they’re going to all in and overpay to get him.

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It’s not that they were ever going to in the first place but now that they have Tulo it makes the decision not to a little bit easier. I also think if Machado wants to sign with the Yankees it’s going to be on their terms. If he’s not ok with that than Brian Cashman and company will simply move on and focus on other ways to upgrade their club.

The one thing Yanks can’t afford to do is miss out on Machado and then not have a backup plan in the event Tulowitzki goes down with another injury. That’s definitely a cause for concern given his recent history so we could see them sign another middle infielder such as Neil Walker or Adeinny Hechavarria to give them some depth and lineup flexibility.

Even if Tulo can stay healthy I doubt he’s going to be given the chance to play every day so having a Walker or Hechavarria on the bench to fill in at second or short would help.