National Post (National Edition)
Tulowitzki hopes to play this season
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA • Troy Tulowitzki misses the clubhouse and the competition.
He misses the grind and the highs and the lows — especially the highs — and he misses being a leader to his younger teammates.
What the veteran Toronto Blue Jays shortstop doesn’t miss however is the pain so excruciating that even the most routine plays became a challenge. So rather than suffer in silence and potentially stubbornness, Tulowitzki underwent surgery in April to have bone spurs removed from both of his heels in the hopes of saving and ultimately prolonging his all star baseball career.
Recovery has been slow and meticulous, but Tulowitzki said on Tuesday that even though there isn’t a specific timetable mapped out, he hopes to return to the Jays at some point this season.
“I don’t want to sit here and (say) for sure I’ll be back, but at the same time I like my chances with the way things are going,” Tulowitzki said in the dugout at Tropicana Field prior to the Jays-rays contest. “That’s definitely a goal of mine is to come back and help these guys. I miss them. It’s crazy. It’s like family the time I’ve been here.”
Of course the Jays have plenty of reasons to want Tulowitzki back — starting with the fact they’ve gone with seven different players at short this season and are paying him $20 million US.
If there is any fault on either side it’s perhaps that Tulowitzki didn’t have the surgery earlier considering he went on the DL on July 29 last season with a sprained ankle. But Tulo wouldn’t be alone among athletes who felt he was invincible and ultimately hoped to play through the pain.
“...This spring training it just got to be a little bit too much. At this point in my career I wanted to give myself a fair chance to come back and be the player I know I can be, and also end my career when I want to end it and not because it’s being forced.”