MLB Trade Rumors: Rockies Ask Yanks for All Four Top Prospects for Jimenez?

UPDATE: It was a given that the Rockies would ask for the moon in return for Ubaldo Jimenez.  Who knew they’d want an extra planet or two?

According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the Rockies have asked the Yankees for catcher Jesus Montero, RHP Ivan Nova AND the team’s top two pitching prospects — Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances — in return for Jimenez.

Jimenez is worthy of a big return — he’d be under control through 2013 at a bargain price — but that’s an extreme return.  One could argue that Montero and Banuelos are both better prospects than any of the three the Red Sox gave up for Adrian Gonzalez over the winter and Agon had much more proven track record at the time.

With July 31st just a couple of weeks away, Ubaldo Jimenez is arguably the most surprising name being floated in trade rumors.

Would the Rockies actually move Jimenez less than a year after he finished third in NL Cy Young voting?

ESPN.com’s Buster Olney talked to one talent evaluator who put the chances of a deal at one in four: “It has to be something that makes sense for the Rockies [right now].” Another evaluator thinks “it’s more trolling than intent on moving” on Colorado’s part.

Here’s a comprehensive roundup of the rest of today’s Jimenez-related news:

• The Yankees will evaluate Jimenez as a potential trade target, tweets Olney. SI.com’s Jon Heyman adds that the Rockies have talked to the Yanks and “probably” the Red Sox, Tigers, Reds and others, as well.

• Every year there seems to be a potentially game-changing pitcher connected in trade rumors to the Yankees, and this year it’s Jimenez, says Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News.

• One more note from Olney’s article: Given Jimenez’s inexpensive price tag through 2013, there would be very little financial risk for any team acquiring the right-hander, which is one reason why the Rockies’ asking price is so high.

• Some teams interested in Jimenez believe that if the Rockies hang on to him now, he’s a decent bet to be traded this winter, when available top pitching will again be scarce and more clubs could get involved, writes Olney.

• Speaking of that scenario, if more teams get aggressively involved, the asking price for the young flame-thrower will be considerable. Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd tells Troy Renck of the Denver Post that the Rockies would have to be “absolutely overwhelmed” to move Jimenez. “It would have to be a Herschel Walker deal,” O’Dowd added, referring to the 1989 NFL trade that earned the nickname “The Great Train Robbery.”

It’s hard to imagine Colorado moving such a young, high upside piece that is reasonably priced for the next couple of years. But this is baseball AND it is the trade deadline, so stranger things have happened.

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