Jose Reyes makes Rockies debut against Cubs

“The point is we’re trying to rebuild and try to get more out of our new players than we did out of Tulo”. “We’re just thrilled”.

The Blue Jays sent shortstop Jose Reyes, a former All-Star in his own right, and a cadre of minor league pitchers to the Rockies in exchange for Tulowitzki and 42-year-old reliever LaTroy Hawkins. The Blue Jays, by far the highest-scoring team in the majors, sit three games behind Minnesota in the race for the second AL wild card. In six July starts Lester has surrendered just eight earned runs in 43 1/3 innings (1.66 ERA).

General manager Alex Anthopoulos was noncommittal on Tuesday afternoon when asked about the likelihood of acquiring a starter.

Miguel Castro’s gotten a cup of coffee with the Blue Jays this year, but he’s worked his way through Toronto’s system, averaging more than a strikeout an inning throughout his journey.

I doubt Jose Reyes ever wears a Rockies home uniform – Colorado’s at Wrigley this week and is in St. Louis for the trade deadline on Friday.

“It was nice to keep that one fair, for sure”, Rizzo said. “Hopefully, we’re not having that discussion”.

During the ninth inning of the Rockies’ loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday, Tulowitzki was pulled from the game as the trade was being finalized. Tulowitzki has yet to arrive in Toronto and will be added to the roster Wednesday.

“I’m still shocked”, Tulowitzki said Wednesday at his introductory news conference.

Stan Sanchez, Colorado State University-Pueblo head baseball coach: “I was shocked who (Tulowitzki) went to (Toronto) and how it happened when he came off the field in the bottom of the ninth inning (Monday night)”.

But with the power of Donaldson, Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion already in the three, four, and five slots respectively, placing Tulowitzki second in the order behind Travis gives Toronto another reliable bat to get on base.

Tulowitzki is batting. 300 with 12 home runs and 53 RBIs in 87 games this season.

“Middle of the order bats at shortstop really don’t come around too often”, Anthoulos said. Tulowitzki has been off to a great start this year for Colorado.

Staying healthy has been his biggest challenge for the six-foot-three Tulowitzki.

Now the waiting and seeing begins for both sides during this time. The Cubs have the opportunity to take the series tomorrow as they face the Rockies in Game 3 of a 3 game series.

“I felt like I got blindsided a bit. He was a pro but I think he was sad”.

The concept was to build around him and Gonzalez, who signed an $80 million, seven-year contract about the same time.

The keys are obviously Tulowitzki and Reyes, but don’t overlook the veteran Hawkins, who is in his 21st season and has pitched in the post-season four times: With the 2002-03 Minnesota Twins, the 2007 Rockies and the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers. Talks resumed in May and picked up speed in early July before stalling again.

Down the road, Bridich can envision a rotation that includes Jon Gray, the third overall pick in 2013, Eddie Butler (No. 46 in 2012), Kyle Freeland (No. 8 in 2014) and Hoffman.

“I can’t thank him enough for guiding me through the way of the closer”, Giles said of Papelbon. “At the end of the day our counter did have him in it”.