NL West Notes: Tulowitzki, Shields, Padres, Dodgers

Don’t expect to see Troy Tulowitzki traded anytime soon, Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post writes.  While the Rockies’ star shortstop has been bandied around in trade rumors for some time, GM Jeff Bridich doesn’t necessarily see anything happening in the next few weeks.  He also says that the Tulo trade talk of last winter was overblown.

“There was never anything in the wintertime that got to be of serious interest,” Bridich said. “Some teams were poking around. The (hip) injury was complicated. There was never anything that remotely came close to happening.”

Bridich continues to say he is open to all possibilities, but Saunders personally would be surprised if Tulowitzki is traded this summer.  Here’s more out of the NL West..

• If the Padres trade James Shields, just signed to a monster deal last winter, they could risk turning off future free agents, Dennis Lin of U-T San Diego writes.  Still, the temptation is probably there for San Diego as Shields’ contract is backloaded – he’ll go from $10MM this season to $21MM in each of the next three with an opt-out clause after the 2016 World Series.
• There has been some speculation that the Padres could rebuild given their disappointing year, but Padres lead investor Peter Seidler says that won’t be happening. “First, we want to provide an exceptional All-Star experience for everybody. Obviously, as part of that, we hope we have multiple players participating in the All-Star Game, because that will reflect on a strong team,” Seidler told Lin. “But our expectations are going to be high going into the next year as well as 2017 and every year beyond.”
• Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (on Twitter) wonders if the Dodgers need to make a move for a starting pitcher.  In all starts made by Dodgers pitchers besides Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Brett Anderson, and Brandon McCarthy, the club has a combined 4.53 ERA.
• In addition to their world-record payroll, the Dodgers are spending in other creative ways to gain an extra advantage, as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes.