Troy Tulowitzki homered for the second straight night in the Rockies loss to the Reds last night, and his most recent hot streak at the plate has taken him to the top of the NL leaderboard in WAR according to FanGraphs (he ranks 5th according to Baseball-Reference.) Voters for the NL may have an interesting decision come October, as several of the best position players in the league this season are on non-competitive teams. Tulowitzki, Matt Kemp, Jose Reyes and Andrew McCutchen all are on teams well out of the current playoff picture, but are certainly worthy of consideration for the award. That said, the pack of leaders does include a handful of players still in the playoff picture, notably the surprising D-backs Justin Upton, the Phillies Shane Victorino, and Brewers Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder.
The award definitely tends to favor players and teams who finish well, so an August/September stretch run that brings the Rockies close to the division lead could help Tulowitzki's cause. The big point here might be that Tulo is putting in his best season yet with the Rockies, and with a little over a quarter season left to go, that contract extension he signed last winter is looking a bit better for the club. With Reyes expected to enter open free agency this winter, we'll get a better understanding of what the market for elite shortstops actually looks like.
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Ian Stewart will be making yet another trip down to AAA Colorado Springs, and while his future with the Rockies past 2011 was already cloudy, the skies on that front just got a little bit darker.
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With the signing deadline just days away, I still haven't seen any updates on most of the Rockies top selections from the 2011 draft, but we are getting a few reports of later round draft and follow H.S. types being unfollowed by the club. 41st round selection Taylor Martin would be the most recent example.