PHOENIX -- As Colorado Rockies mainstays Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez continue to make their way into trade rumors, the team's new general manager said he's still grappling with the idea of putting either player on the market this offseason.
When Jeff Bridich took over as Rockies GM in early October, he said he planned to keep his eyes and ears open to anything. A month into his tenure, he's still trying to determine whether that means weighing trade offers for the franchise's two best players.
"They're marquee guys," Bridich said Tuesday from the MLB general managers meetings. "It's the best shortstop in the game when healthy, and it's arguably the best left fielder in the game when healthy. The recognition of that type of talent makes it tough to swallow the pill of wanting to trade these guys.
"For us to even start to wrap our heads around moving these guys is a tough one. It's not just a casual type of process. We have to internally feel like this is something we want to entertain."
Both players are being mentioned as potential trade candidates while they're at less than optimal value. Tulowitzki, 30, was having an MVP-caliber year when he went down with season-ending hip surgery in August. He has missed 222 of a possible 486 games because of injury since 2012.
Gonzalez, 29, hit .238 with 11 home runs in 70 games this season. He has missed a total of 144 games because of finger and knee problems over the past two seasons.
Both players are in the middle of sizable contracts. Gonzalez is owed $53 million over the next three seasons, while Tulowitzki has a guaranteed $118 million coming to him through 2020.
The Rockies finished fourth in the NL West with a 66-96 record, 28 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. Owner Dick Monfort responded with a front-office shakeup that cost long-time executives Dan O'Dowd and Bill Geivett their jobs and elevated Bridich to the team's principal decision-making role.
Upon arrival in Phoenix on Monday, Bridich shot down a report that the Rockies have had trade talks with the New York Mets about Tulowitzki. As he weighs the pluses and minuses of making Tulowitzki and Gonzalez available in the coming weeks, he's trying to balance the positive impact the two All-Stars have when healthy with the payroll savings and young talent they might generate in trades.
"When you have players of that ilk, people end up asking about them," Bridich said. "The fact that they are Rockies and they've developed with us and been important parts of the Rockies' organization and culture -- and they've performed -- speaks volumes to how we feel about them."
Bridich also acknowledged the possibility that Tulowitzki and Gonzalez could be hitting the trade market at a time in their careers when opposing clubs might not be willing to surrender the talent that the Rockies think they're worth.
"We may or may not find out in the coming weeks," Bridich said. "Nothing of substance has taken place, so here we are."