MLB Trade Rumors: Colorado Rockies Must Retain Ubaldo Jimenez

Last year, Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez broke out. He went 19-8 with a 2.88 ERA, even throwing a no-hitter along the way. At the All-Star break, some had Jimenez pegged as the eventual NL Cy Young Award winner as he was 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA at the time.

Yet, given his struggles down the stretch, not everyone was as sold on Jimenez as they were at first blush. This season, the naysayers may have been proven right.

Jimenez is just 6-8 with an ERA of 4.00 as the Rockies currently sit in third place in the NL West, 11 games behind the San Francisco Giants. For some reason or another, team management has apparently been shopping Jimenez.

Needless to say, trading Jimenez is the worst thing that the Rockies could possibly do. The team itself has a very bright future, and losing him would put said future in serious jeopardy.

Currently, the Rockies' offense is seventh in all of baseball. Their only flaw is pitching, ranked 24th. Yet, that area's struggles can be attributed to multiple factors.

First, the absence of Jorge De La Rosa has been a tremendous loss. Before going down with a torn elbow ligament, De La Rosa was 5-2 with a 3,51 ERA and was giving people reason to believe that the Rockies just might make the playoffs. Without him, the team's rotation behind Jimenez and Jhoulys Chacin is very unstable and inconsistent.

On top of that, the team's offense has been inconsistent despite its respectable ranking. As a result, Jimenez's record has suffered.

Still, the Rockies' future has nowhere to go but up. Let's not forget that the team is only a few years removed from a World Series appearance and that their core of Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki has the potential to guide them to the playoffs and perhaps more.

Simply put, Jimenez probably just overachieved last year and has come back down to earth in 2011. That isn't to say he isn't a top young pitcher. He is still more than capable of being a top pitcher down the stretch and his groundball rate is definitely nothing to sneeze at.

That all being said, team management would be crazy to deal Jimenez. Given how GM Dan O'Dowd is asking for a king's ransom in exchange for his newly crowned ace, very few teams will make a play for him.

However, it's silly that O'Dowd would even consider trading Jimenez in the first place. He has the potential to form a Big Three pitching rotation combined with Chacin and De La Rosa and losing him would put the kibosh on the team's hopes of winning a World Series in the near future.

If Jimenez is indeed traded, then owners Charlie and Dick Monfort should seriously consider replacing O'Dowd. For him to simply trade away a talented pitcher with an extremely team-friendly contract would be absolutely ridiculous and most importantly, it could cripple a franchise.