The Giants have a shortstop. He's very good, and his name is Brandon Crawford. They do not need to trade for an oft-injured, expensive shortstop like Troy Tulowitzki. They do not have the prospects to trade for him. Even if they had the prospects and the money, it would make more sense for them to allocate those resources to the rotation.

But here's a rumor that connects Troy Tulowitzki and the Giants that I'm posting only for traffic. From Jon Heyman at CBS:

Perhaps the true reality is that Tulowitzki wants to be traded. But only if he gets to go to the perfect team, or a close facsimile -- he is said to favor the Yankees, Giants, Dodgers and Angels. And only if he isn't the one instigating the trade.

Yes, the Giants are one of Tulowitzki's favored teams, apparently. This means absolutely nothing, considering the Rockies probably wouldn't trade their franchise player to a hated division rival, where there would be a possibility he could succeed and make a dumpy franchise look even more dumpy, considering that the Giants don't have the prospects to make the Rockies overlook that last part, and considering that Tulowitzki plays the same position as one of the Giants' better hitters this year. But it was a rumor that involved "Tulowitzki" and "Giants," so I'm writing it up. For traffic.

Here's something to note, though: Tulowitzki hasn't been awful this year, but he hasn't been himself. He's walked just twice and struck out 28 times in just 118 plate appearances. Or, to put it another way:

Strikeout-to-walk ratio

2012: 1.00

2013: 1.49

2014: 1.14

2015: 14.00

He's still owed over $100 million over the next five-plus seasons, so if he's secretly bad now, it would be a debacle of a contract. Then you get into the fact that he can get injured playing Civ 5, and he sure seems like a risky investment.

On the other hand, I'd still bank on him hitting better, even if I wouldn't expect 500 at-bats. And that part about him playing short? Well, he would make a dandy defensive third baseman, I'd bet. We know he has the arm and the hands, much less the range. And he would be an upgrade on Casey McGehee offensively wait let me fact-check that yes that's true. So he would make the Giants better -- substantially better, even. When healthy.

I don't know if he would be worth the ... wait, why are we talking about this? The Rockies aren't going to take Kyle Crick, Clayton Blackburn, Ty Blach, Andrew Susac ...

Dan O'Dowd: /sniff sniff Dan O'Dowd: Is that a Giants catcher I smell?

... Mac Williamson and five other prospects from the Giants. Not when other teams might offer much more. Not when the Giants are in the same division. Not when Tulowitzki is the most popular player in the history of the franchise, give or take a Helton.

If, after all sorts of delirious trade rumors and hot stove rumblings, this is the big move the Giants make, though, I would laaaaaaugh and laugh and laugh. Because this doesn't make sense on five different levels, right? Unless Tulowitzki demands a trade to the Giants and the Giants only, there's almost no way for this rumor to make sense. However, it's important to put on the Internet because it's not like you wanted to do work. Please click on another article before you leave.