Much of this offseason has been devoted to the idea of the Yankees finding their shortstop of the future to replace Derek Jeter. One option they explored, albeit not very extensively, was the idea of trading with the Colorado Rockies for Troy Tulowitzki. The talks didn't go very far and the Yankees went on to trade for Didi Gregorius instead. In the days since the move, the Mets, if anyone, became the favorite to acquire Tulowitzki, but now it looks like the Yankees could be getting back into it.
Jon Heyman is reporting that since talks between the Rockies and Mets have gone nowhere, the Yankees "re-checked late last week on Tulo's availability." The thought is that any kind of trade is still incredibly unlikely, especially since the Yankees can't really match the expected high asking price when compared to the Mets' plethora of young arms in Rafael Montero, Steven Matz, Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia. Heyman believes that new Yankee Nathan Eovaldi could improve their potential package, along with top pitching prospect Luis Severino and best young pitcher in Dellin Betances, but Brian Cashman might not want to take apart the team to the extent that Tulo would require, especially when the 30-year-old shortstop has injury questions of his own.
While the Yankees spoke of Gregorius as their shortstop of the future now that they have him under team control over the next four years, it doesn't mean they won't try to upgrade the team going forward. There are a lot of question marks surrounding Didi's future, especially when it comes to his bat against lefties, so if they can get a more complete player at at the right price they'll do it and figure out the roster later. At that point they could play Gregorius at second base now that Martin Prado has been shipped off to Miami, have Tulo as their everyday shortstop, and finally be done with their starting infield for the 2015 season.
Nothing is close to imminent and, as far as has been reported, no names have been exchanged, but if Colorado decides to move Tulowitzki this offseason, it will have to be for a franchise-changing return. Even if the Mets don't make Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom available, they'll have an easier time meeting those demands than the Yankees.
UPDATE: Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York is reporting that "a source said the Yankees are not in pursuit of Tulowitzki."