The Red Sox watched Troy Tulowitzki workout

Earlier in the week, after being released by the Blue Jays, Troy Tulowitzki worked out for a number of MLB teams as he looks for a new team to try and complete a major comeback. The shortstop was once, of course, one of the very best players in baseball but has battled extreme injury issues over the past few years. According to Tim Brown of Yahoo!, the Red Sox were among the teams that attended the workout. That’s pretty interesting!

It gets even more interesting, too. One wouldn’t expect the Red Sox to be interested in a shortstop like Tulowitzki — or at least I wouldn’t — but according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, it wasn’t just due diligence. He describes the Red Sox’ interest level as “legitimate.”

So, uh, what? Abraham speculates some potential uses Tulowitzki could serve for the Red Sox. One of them is as a replacement if they trade Xander Bogaerts, which continues to be an absurd theory. That’s not to say it definitely won’t happen — I have no idea — but it would be bananas to trade Bogaerts and insert Tulowitzki as the starting shortstop. A middle infield of Tulowitzki and Dustin Pedroia would be asking for trouble, and I can’t believe the Red Sox would be willing to try it out.

I’d rule out that possibility. However, speaking of Pedroia, there have been whispers that are getting louder that the team really wants more insurance on the infield for the veteran second baseman. I’m not sure another veteran with extreme injury issues of late really fits that bill, but there’s no doubt that Tulowitzki has shown the talent in the past. Also, as Abraham notes, Tulowitzki will only be paid the league minimum by whoever signs him, as the Blue Jays are still paying off his old contract. It’s the exact situation Pablo Sandoval was in after the Red Sox released him.

Ultimately, I’d be pretty surprised if the former Rockies star signed in Boston. Although he’s 34 years old and didn’t play at all in 2018, it seems he can find a better role than as a backup to Pedroia with Brock Holt looming around too. The Red Sox do seem focused on adding more infield depth, so it makes sense for them to hang around Tulowitzki market just to see where it goes. That being said, the fit doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t think Tulowitzki would want to come to this situation as currently constituted, and I can’t imagine many scenarios where it would make sense to trade any of the current infielders in order to make room for the veteran.