<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/32/08/article_32084aab-28eb-4d90-ac9b-20e93f4ecece.jpg" alt="tulo-duff-crop" width="600" height="743">
I know, I know, a minute long clip of Troy Tulowitzki chatting with ESPN&#8217;s Britt McHenry is maybe not the sort of thing you&#8217;re going to drop everything and read about, especially when we&#8217;re fully in the grips of Day Two of Jose Bautista Contract Madness and I&#8217;ve still yet to address the delicious (and hopefully permanent) falling apart of the Jay-Bruce-for-Michael-Saunders-and-also-inexplicably-a-prospect-even-though-apparently-the-Reds-weren&#8217;t-kicking-in-any-money trade.
But hear me out on this.

1) It&#8217;s an excuse to once again post this amazing shot of <a href="http://andrewstoeten.com/2016/01/13/tulo-at-the-duff/" target="_blank">Tulo at the Dufferin Mall</a> back in October, which still totally floors me as a thing that exists and actually happened. (WHAT WAS HE DOING IN THAT NEIGHBOURHOOD?)
2) Apart from all the completely expected stuff that he says &#8212; he&#8217;s excited to be here and ready to go, the trade was tough on him but now he knows his teammates and how the Jays do business, etc. &#8212; he says the completely expected thing about hitting in the lead-off spot. Which, of course, is that he&#8217;s totally willing to do that!
&#8220;I&#8217;ll let skip make the lineup and hopefully I&#8217;m in it,&#8221; he says. Stock answer, sure, and maybe not what he&#8217;d tell John Gibbons privately, but&#8230; I dunno&#8230; kinda noteworthy? Especially since he&#8217;s leading in the poll we&#8217;ve got going in the sidebar about who it should fall to to hit atop this lineup (you know, the one where a bunch of wrong people are picking Kevin Pillar over Russell Martin in the non-Tulo division).
Here, check out the clip:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
My interview with Troy Tulowitzki: &#8216;I&#8217;m excited to get going&#8217; &#8211; ESPN Video <a href="https://t.co/k6ikSC4mEK">https://t.co/k6ikSC4mEK</a>
— Britt McHenry (@BrittMcHenry) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrittMcHenry/status/701869923128180736">February 22, 2016</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
And 3) This is an excuse to again point to (and expand on) an item I noted in <a href="http://thebluejaysnation.com/2016/2/22/the-daily-duce-monday-february-22nd" target="_blank">Monday&#8217;s Daily Duce</a>, wherein Ian from <a href="http://bluejayhunter.com/2016/02/troy-tulowitzki-added-a-new-leg-kick-to-his-swing.html" target="_blank">the Blue Jay Hunter</a> took a shot of Tulo&#8217;s swing from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4FSmXKf1I/" target="_blank">this Instagram clip</a>, and compared it to one of his swings from last fall, coming up with this side-by-side GIF:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/54/8a/article_548ad80a-2aae-4203-8cb0-d0e601b62f8a.gif" alt="Tulo-Stance-Comparison" width="600" height="290">
That&#8230; looks&#8230; better. Right? Like, kind of a lot better.
Oh man, Tulo&#8217;s gonna crush it this year. Can&#8217;t you feel it?
Now please seriously quit arguing to give Kevin Pillar 50 or 60 more at bats than him over the course of the year (assuming they both stay healthy, which&#8230; um&#8230; let&#8217;s not get into that right now).

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the weird crop on the top image, I did that because I figured it wasn’t cool to go posting a picture of someone’s kid by way of their personal Instagram page. Right? But full credit for the photo is to Instagrammer @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/9RQ7dUKpgj/?taken-by=csuphillips" target="_blank">csuphillips</a>, and you can see the original <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/9RQ7dUKpgj/" target="_blank">here</a>.

<img src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/32/08/article_32084aab-28eb-4d90-ac9b-20e93f4ecece.jpg" alt="tulo-duff-crop" width="600" height="743"> I know, I know, a minute long clip of Troy Tulowitzki chatting with ESPN's Britt McHenry is maybe not the sort of thing you're going to drop everything and read about, especially when we're fully in the grips of Day Two of Jose Bautista Contract Madness and I've still yet to address the delicious (and hopefully permanent) falling apart of the Jay-Bruce-for-Michael-Saunders-and-also-inexplicably-a-prospect-even-though-apparently-the-Reds-weren't-kicking-in-any-money trade.But hear me out on this.1) It's an excuse to once again post this amazing shot of <a href="http://andrewstoeten.com/2016/01/13/tulo-at-the-duff/" target="_blank">Tulo at the Dufferin Mall</a> back in October, which still totally floors me as a thing that exists and actually happened. (WHAT WAS HE DOING IN THAT NEIGHBOURHOOD?)2) Apart from all the completely expected stuff that he says -- he's excited to be here and ready to go, the trade was tough on him but now he knows his teammates and how the Jays do business, etc. -- he says the completely expected thing about hitting in the lead-off spot. Which, of course, is that he's totally willing to do that!"I'll let skip make the lineup and hopefully I'm in it," he says. Stock answer, sure, and maybe not what he'd tell John Gibbons privately, but... I dunno... kinda noteworthy? Especially since he's leading in the poll we've got going in the sidebar about who it should fall to to hit atop this lineup (you know, the one where a bunch of wrong people are picking Kevin Pillar over Russell Martin in the non-Tulo division).Here, check out the clip:<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
My interview with Troy Tulowitzki: 'I'm excited to get going' - ESPN Video <a href="https://t.co/k6ikSC4mEK">https://t.co/k6ikSC4mEK</a>— Britt McHenry (@BrittMcHenry) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrittMcHenry/status/701869923128180736">February 22, 2016</a>
</blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>And 3) This is an excuse to again point to (and expand on) an item I noted in <a href="http://thebluejaysnation.com/2016/2/22/the-daily-duce-monday-february-22nd" target="_blank">Monday's Daily Duce</a>, wherein Ian from <a href="http://bluejayhunter.com/2016/02/troy-tulowitzki-added-a-new-leg-kick-to-his-swing.html" target="_blank">the Blue Jay Hunter</a> took a shot of Tulo's swing from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4FSmXKf1I/" target="_blank">this Instagram clip</a>, and compared it to one of his swings from last fall, coming up with this side-by-side GIF:<img src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/54/8a/article_548ad80a-2aae-4203-8cb0-d0e601b62f8a.gif" alt="Tulo-Stance-Comparison" width="600" height="290"> That... looks... better. Right? Like, kind of a lot better.Oh man, Tulo's gonna crush it this year. Can't you feel it?Now please seriously quit arguing to give Kevin Pillar 50 or 60 more at bats than him over the course of the year (assuming they both stay healthy, which... um... let's not get into that right now). Oh, and if you’re wondering about the weird crop on the top image, I did that because I figured it wasn’t cool to go posting a picture of someone’s kid by way of their personal Instagram page. Right? But full credit for the photo is to Instagrammer @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/9RQ7dUKpgj/?taken-by=csuphillips" target="_blank">csuphillips</a>, and you can see the original <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/9RQ7dUKpgj/" target="_blank">here</a>.

Tulo Speaks!: Open To Hitting Lead-off, Excited For The Season (Also Has A New Leg Kick)

San Francisco Giants designated hitter Rafael Devers (16) bats during the third inning against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park.

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