Red Sox Trade Rumors: The Sox Have Kicked the Tires on Ubaldo Jimenez
By on July 18, 2011
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When three of the five members of your starting rotation are on the disabled list at the same time, life can be pretty tough. Just ask the Red Sox.
The good news for the Sox is that Jon Lester is going to be back next week. The bad news is that there is still no timetable for Clay Buchholz's return and Daisuke Matsuzaka is not going to be return for a long, long time (that might actually be good news). Because of this, it's no surprise that the Sox are rumored to be looking for starting pitching help with MLB's July 31 trade deadline fast approaching.
Well, there is starting pitching help, and there is starting pitching help. Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez represents the latter. And apparently, the Sox are interested.
According to Danny Knobler of CBS Sports, sources say that the Sox have put in a call to the Rockies about Jimenez. Exactly how serious they are is not known, but last I checked you don't make calls like that just so you can trade jokes.
No sir, that's a task for skeptical fans like myself. And I don't know about you, but I'm not buying this story for a second.
As I understand things, the Rockies are in no hurry to trade Jimenez. And for good reason. He may be having a tough season to this point, but Jimenez is under Colorado's control for the next couple years at a very reasonable price. In order for them to part ways with Jimenez, the Rockies are going to have to get an offer they can't refuse.
Do the Sox have the goods to make an offer like that? I think so, but that doesn't mean they need to make one. They may need a starter at the moment, but they don't need to surrender the arms and legs of all their best prospects for an ace-caliber pitcher like Jimenez.
Realistically, I think what Theo Epstein is going here is responding to the Yankees' interest in Jimenez. Epstein could be trying to force the Yanks into emptying their farm system for Jimenez, which is something they shouldn't risk doing. And because Yanks GM Brian Cashman has said he doesn't want to do anything stupid, we can probably assume he's not going to overreact to the Sox's interest in Jimenez.
His bosses might, though. Wouldn't that be something.
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