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Rockies GM: We control where Troy Tulowitzki plays

Colorado Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki strikes out swinging during a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

Colorado Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki strikes out swinging during a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

(Victor Decolongon / Getty Images)
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Three days after the agent for Troy Tulowitzki said he would meet with the Colorado Rockies shortstop to decide whether to ask for a trade, Rockies General Manager Jeff Bridich said the team controlled whether Tulowitzki stays or goes.

“The reality is that Troy doesn’t have control of this, and neither does his agent,” Bridich said Friday at Dodger Stadium.

Bridich said he was frustrated over how Tulowitzki’s situation erupted into a major national story. However, when asked whether he wished to end the story by declaring that the Rockies would not trade their franchise player, Bridich declined.

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“The possibility of the Rockies trading Tulowitzki at some point? Yeah, it’s within the realm of possibility,” Bridich said.

Bridich said that stance has not changed since the winter. He said he has heard “absolutely nothing” in a “definitive” manner this week from Tulowitzki or his agent, and the general manager noted that Tulowitzki said Thursday he would not try to force a trade.

Bridich called the Tulowitzki situation “a media production more than anything else” in the middle of what became an 11-game losing streak. The Rockies have finished at least 18 games out of first place in each of the previous four seasons. They already have fallen into last place in the National League West this season, 8 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.

“Most of the media likes to create news,” he said, “to try to create salacious stories and create controversy instead of report on news. I think that is an elemental part of what is going on here.

“My hunch is that if we had a very different two weeks -- if our record was a little different, as it was in April -- we wouldn’t be talking about this at all. It’s funny how nothing came up on this topic then.”

Bridich, in his first season as general manager, was reminded that there was nothing speculative about the stories, which were based on an on-the-record quote from Paul Cohen, the agent for Tulowitzki. Cohen told the New York Post he would meet with Tulowitzki to discuss whether to ask for a trade.

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“To say that it is not a possibility would be silly,” Cohen said.

Said Bridich: “That same possibility existed in the winter time. That same possibility existed in spring training. That same possibility existed in April. That same possibility existed 24 hours before he was asked that question.”

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