Troy Tulowitzki

[Montana168]

The one and only question that needs to be asked about Tulo is: can he stay healthy? There is no doubting his skills. When he is healthy and on the field, he is the best offensive SS in the game for fantasy baseball. The past 3 years he has failed to stay healthy for an entire season. In 2009, he played 151 games and had a stat line of 32 HR/20 SB while hitting .297. Then in 2010 he played in 122 games, then in '11 143 games, then last year in only 47 games.

Personally, I am buying Tulo this year. Many of his past injuries were fluky (EG slicing his hand open after he slammed his bat in frustration), but there is no doubt that when you are drafting in the first 3 rounds, you want stability. In reality though, every single pick is a gamble. I will be drafting Tulo with confidence (albeit possibly blind confidence ) as high as the 2nd round. He is similar to Gronk at TE in football. Having Gronk at TE is a matchup buster each and every week because there is no other TE that comes close to matching Gronk if he his healthy for 16 games. Similarly, if Tulo is healthy for 140-150 games, he can put up a 30+ HR/10+ SB .300 season. A feat that, arguably, no other SS will come close to.

However, for dynasty players, I think it would be prudent to keep in the back of your mind that Tulo's long term (~2 years from now) position is likely 1B. He is big for a SS, and he has proven that his legs take a beating playing the most grueling position on the field. In 2 years, barring trades and injuries, I think we will see a Rockies infield of 1B-Tulo, 2B-Rutledge, 3B-Arenado, and SS-Story. While Tulo is an elite top 10 overall player when healthy, his value would take a hit moving from SS to 1B. But again, that is not something re-drafters need to worry about or dynasty players need to worry about for another 2 years. However, it is still something to keep in mind.

[Verminator]

He stays healthy this year, that is my prediction but it is based on nothing!

.292, 22 HR, 90 RBI, 12 SB, 98 R

He is overdue to stay healthy!

[GiantsFan14]

.305-90-28-94-8

[Quackman]

im not buying. Even though he swears he isnt injury prone, im taking a year off of Tulo to see for myself. Yaya good value and all that unless he only plays half the season. If i was going to gamble on someone with injuries i think id go with kemp over tulo but both are scary with one of your top pics.

[Kimbos Beard]

If I recall wasn't he the number one shortstop in 2011 and the number 2 shortstop in 2010 even with only 122 games played? The thing about Tulo is that when he is on the field he is so much better than any other shortstop in baseball right now.

If you have him you don't even need him to stay healthy, just somewhat healthy and he will put up monster numbers.

[varitone]

I've drafted him in 2012, 2011, 2009. In 2009 he played 151 games and was stellar. Since then he has been my biggest fantasy headache! The only year that I didn't take him with my #1 overall pick was 2010 and I won my championship that year..streaming hot SS's all year. In my experience he can't be trusted and always lets me down with an injury. I predict he will play a maximum of 90 games this season.