When a front-office type says “We aren’t selling,” they usually are, or are at least entertaining the idea. Rockies General Manager, Dan O’Dowd told the Denver Post this week that he isn’t looking to sell and hasn’t been told to trim the payroll either.
Personally, I think that the Rockies are going to quickly become sellers — to some degree — in the coming weeks leading up to the July 31 trade deadline, and Ubaldo Jimenez is the front runner in the trade talk, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
This is where I stand on the possibility of Ubaldo being shipped to the Cincinnati Reds: Not a good idea.
The “Chief” is 4-8 on the season, and I cannot stress enough that it isn’t his fault, entirely. His job is to pitch what the catcher calls or shake it off, get strikes, help force double plays and not walk batters. His 4.14 ERA and 95 Ks aren’t terrible considering his ERA over the last eight games is 2.52, including a one-hitter in D.C. I’d offer up his track record over his three seasons as a starter as evidence that he shouldn’t be traded when he is still one of the best pitchers in the rotation.
2010 – 19-8, 2.88 ERA and 214 Ks (Plus he was a leading NL Cy Young candidate and NL all-star)
2009 – 15-12, 3.47 ERA
2008 – 12-12, 3.99 ERA
Unless you are going to get Joey Votto or Jay Bruce, which isn’t happening: Do not trade him for prospects. The Rockies prospect system is nothing more than trade material, and that isn’t getting us really anywhere, now is it?
This team needs bats! If there is one thing the San Francisco Giants proved last year is that you can still survive a season and win a World Series with stellar pitching even if you have sub-par batting.
You don’t need to give up one of the best pitchers when you aren’t paying him a ton of money. His contract this year isn’t costing more than $3 million. Next year he will be paid less than $5 million.
Switching to other pitching topics, Jim Tracy has shuffled the rotation for the second half:
- Ubaldo Jimenez
- Juan Nicasio
- Jhoulys Chacin
- Aaron Cook
- Jason Hammel
On Cook, Tracy told the Denver Post “he realizes the fact that he has to pitch better.” His reasoning for the shuffle was to lighten the load on the bullpen by not having Nicasio and Cook pitching back-to-back. Good call skip, because that bullpen is going to fall apart having to pick up the pieces from bad outings from the rook or Cook. The bullpen needed some rest and should continue to get some as long as they can count on not having to mop up the mess two days in a row.
Cook’s ball is treating the strike zone as if it is a “No strike zone”. I hope Cook can right himself because he is going to pitch himself straight out-of-town at his current pace. Unfortunately he is worthless to this club in any trade capacity, more so than he is on the mound.
