MLB Network's Harold Reynolds Q&A with Purple Row

The "why does Tulo make so few throwing errors on his jump throws" question is a part of a much more important inquiry. "Do Tulo’s jump throws help or hurt the Rockies as a team?"

In addition to this being an interesting question in its own right, the idea of any player putting their own act first and potentially compromising the team’s success irks me. The idea of Tulo doing it however, (a guy who’s not only my favorite player but also one of the leaders on this team who’s supposed to set an example for the younger players) makes me furious.

So you can bet that when comments that could be construed as "Tulo is willing to jeopardize the team’s success and only uses his jump throw so he can make an appearance on Web Gems" are made, I’m going to reach a boiling point. I figure that the best way to use that anger is to spend some time looking up stuff like that so when the topic comes up again, I have something that I hope most here will see as an objective defense of Tulo.

Two of the biggest reasons why I picked Tulo as my favorite player is because I believe he A: plays the game the right way and B: cares about the Rockies as a team more than anything else. This is why I would get so angry last season when Red Sox and Yankee fans would tell me "You know that Tulo’s gonna be playing in Boston or New York in a few years right?. He’s got big market on his mind and is more concerned about making top dollar in free agency than being a Rockie."

If I felt that were true, I wouldn’t have picked Tulo as my favorite player. I watched interviews in years past where he talked about how much he enjoyed playing in Colorado, how much he appreciated the fans there, and how much he idolized players like Cal Ripken for spending their whole career with one team. As someone who has studied nonverbal communication, I watched it and felt that what he was telling the truth and meant every word he said.

And now I watch Tulo say how much he cares about winning and how everything he does on offense and defense is to try and make the Rockies better as a team. Sure his jump throws are flashy but that fits his role as a leader. He can make a wild play that by itself screams "Jump on my back guys, I’m gonna carry this team for a couple of days". It adds energy, something that’s really needed from time to time over a 162 game season.

With that said however, I want to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR that despite the nice byproduct of Tulo’s plays looking awesome, I still believe that the #1 reason Tulo continues to use his jump throw is because it helps the Rockies as a team overall. Yes you can find some individual plays where he got burned by his own fire but in his body of work, I’d say the positives outweigh the negatives for the Rockies as a team. If they didn’t, I have a hard time seeing Tulo, a player who’s as passionate about winning as anyone I’ve ever seen, continue to use it.

Do I go to extreme lenghths to defend Tulo? Sure I do. I’m passionate about my favorite player. I get that there are some here who think I come across as a nutcase but after going years without having a favorite player, I’m just thankful I have something I want to defned this much.