Troy Tulowitzki’s Agent Must Be Brilliant

Only in Major League Baseball could a player like Troy Tulowitzki ink that kind of deal.

Honestly, have you seen the numbers on that thing? On Tuesday Tulowitzki and the Rockies agreed to a seven-year, $134 million contract extension that runs through the 2020 season. Factored in with his current contract that means Tulowitzki is going to collect $157.75 million in the next 10 years.

So, over the next decade the Rockies (or some other team, perhaps) are going to pay Tulowitzki an average of $15.775 million dollars annually.

Brilliant.

If you go back and plug that number into 2010 salary figures, according to USA Today, that would make Tulowitzki tied with Roy Halladay for 23rd highest paid player in the league.

Let that sink in. Roy. Halladay.

What’s more, once the extension kicks in Tulowitzki will make about $19.143 million per year between 2014-2020. This will change, but as it stands that would make him the 11th-highest paid player in MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL HISTORY.

(Tip of the cap to Cot’s Baseball Contracts for all this data).

Miguel Cabrera, Derek Jeter, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Ryan Howard, Ichiro and Matt Holliday are among the players that have made or are making less with their current contracts.

In terms of total value, Tulo’s new contract is the 12th-richest in MLB history (the portion from 2014-2020).

Those that have made less? Ryan Howard (2012-16), Matt Holiday (2010-16), Ken Griffey Jr. (2000-08), Albert Pujols (2004-10), Mike Piazza (1999-2005), Barry Bonds (2002-06), Chipper Jones (2001-06) and Ichiro (2008-12).

At this point, you have to see where we’re going with this.

Tulowitzki’s contract is completely ridiculous. Sure, he’s a nice player. Really, he is. He’s a Gold Glove caliber shortstop with a .290 career batting average. He steals some bases and hits for power. And he’s just 25 years old. Clearly, there’s a lot to work with.

But only in baseball would he be rewarded with such largess. There’s absolutely no way he should be paid in the upper echelon of baseball’s true impact difference makers. He’s not the type of player opposing managers pitch around.

But hey, if the Rockies want to spend their money that way it’s their business. I hope Tulo proves us wrong over the long run.