The 2005 Long Beach State Dirtbags featured a left side of the infield scouts drooled over: junior shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and sophomore third baseman Evan Longoria. Longoria had been a shortstop in high school and at junior college, but he deferred to the more established Tulowitzki and moved to third base. After Longoria was selected 3rd overall by the Devil Rays in the 2006 MLB Draft and went pro, it was Brignac who had the opportunity to play the role of Tulowitzki and star alongside Longoria. Now that Brignac has failed, though, it’s the real Tulowitzki who’s in his way, making his future as a starting shortstop in the big leagues look bleak. Unlike Longoria, Brignac can’t just move to another position and be an impact player. His bat has never come along and he’s best known for his defense at shortstop these days. His role with the Rockies if he can hit well enough to get playing time is going to be to make some starts in place of Tulowitzki after Tulowitzki (exactly like Longoria) struggled through an injury-riddled season in 2012 and looks to work his way back. If Brignac can somehow makes a breakthrough at the plate, maybe starts at second base and third base could be in order, but at this point, Brignac has slipped from potential star shortstop to backup at best. Brignac has the privilege of playing with two former Long Beach State stars in Longoria and Tulowitzki. However, while everything was lined up perfectly for him to play alongside the first, he’s stuck behind the second and it’s going to take a shocking series of events for him to get another chance.

The parallels between Tulowitzki and Longoria go on and on- both missed significant time with injuries suffered in May of 2012, severely handicapping their teams- but the most staggering thing right now is their career numbers. Tulowitzki has a .292/.364/.504 career line- Longoria is at .276/.361/.516. Tulowitzki’s career OPS is .868- Longoria’s is .877. That’s not so crazy. This is. Troy Tulowitzki has 130 career home runs. Evan Longoria has the same number after his 3-homer game in the Rays’ final game of 2012. Tulowitzki has 160 career doubles- Longoria has 161. Who’s the better player, Tulowitzki or Longoria? That’s up for debate. But it’s amazing how Longoria continues parallel his Long Beach State teammate Tulowitzki, and only time will tell how their careers will compare when it’s all said and done.

When I first heard about this play, another play of a similar nature came to mind. On March 8th, 2008, the Rays were playing the New York Yankees in a spring training game when Elliot Johnson rounded third base in an attempt to score but after the throw beat him to home plate he barreled over Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli and ended up scoring, breaking Cervelli’s wrist in the process. In that circumstance, Yankees manager Joe Girardi called Johnson’s play “uncalled for” while Rays manager Joe Maddon approved of it as “hardball.” What’s the difference between that play and this?

Hard-nosed play is commonplace in baseball. But where do we draw the line? Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

The circumstances were completely different between the Johnson play and what occurred yesterday. Johnson was fighting to make the Rays’ Opening Day roster while Jimenez and  Tulowitzki are both integral pieces of their respective teams. But the motivation could have been very similar. People have said that the Johnson-Cervelli collision was the moment that people knew that something was different in the Rays’ clubhouse in 2008 and that they really meant business in the AL East. We appreciate the play, no matter whether we consider it “dirty” or not, because it signalled a time of transition after years of losing as the Rays embarked on their magical 2008 run. Was it dirty? Maybe. Was it necessary? A lot of people would say yes. But that’s looking at the situation too narrowly. It wasn’t just that the Rays wanted to make a statement- Johnson himself needed to make a statement to his coaches. What would Joe Maddon and the Rays’ coaching staff had thought if Johnson had conservatively attempted to slide around Cervelli’s tag, with Cervelli smothering home plate, and was tagged out effortlessly? Maybe if he doesn’t barrel over Cervelli, he doesn’t make the team.

What happened today, if it really was intentional, was nonsense. There was no reason for any of that to happen. Ubaldo, if you want to show the Rockies you were worth a long-term deal, how about this for an idea: go out on the mound and start pitching like dominant starting pitcher you believe yourself to be.