Yankees Trade Speculation: Should New York Deal Phil Hughes for Ubaldo Jimenez?

When the MLB trade deadline rolls around every July 31, the New York Yankees are always near the front lines, looking to make deals that will launch them to the World Series.  And like most teams in baseball, the Yankees are usually looking to bolster pitching.  

This season, the Yankees are in a quandary as to what needs to be acquired.  If it's starting pitching, one gem on the market is Colorado Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez.  Going after him will cost the Yanks, but should they pay the price with starter Phil Hughes?

Quite simply, there are more reasons that make sense for them to not make this deal than there are reasons to send their home-grown talent to Denver.  The gain and loss is very hard to measure.  Granted, Jimenez was nothing short of tremendous last season, and especially during the first half, starting off the season a remarkable 17-1.  However, he has since gone 8-16, something that must worry anyone looking to acquire him.  

If Jimenez can't perform in a weak-hitting NL West, saying he can deliver in the cauldron of New York can be a tough sell. 

Hughes is a very similar story to Jimenez.  Though his first half in 2010 wasn't as historically great as Jimenez's, it was still very good.  Similarly, however, his second half went astray, and with arm troubles earlier this year, he has set himself up for many questions near this deadline.  

If the Yankees are to deal Hughes, they must be sure of a couple things.  First, if he can ever return to his once-excellent stature, trading him is absolutely not worth doing.  With Hughes and two other confident, hard-throwers in Bartolo Colon and the ace CC Sabathia, they will be in good shape entering the stretch run of September.

If they do not believe he will return to form, the pitcher they go after must significantly improve their rotation, specifically the No. 2 position.  Right now, there is no pitcher in their rotation that can slide behind Sabathia and be given the ball knowing a win is a strong possibility.  Only Colon has proven he is even capable of that role.

The Yankees have another option, one that has not proven itself useful in the past, but one that would certainly solidify their position in the American League.  They should look south to the Tampa Bay Rays, a team New York and the Boston Red Sox have potentially beaten out of the AL East race.  

Their ace, David Price, is certainly off the block, but James Shields could be a different story.  He has hurt the Yankees this season, and recently has proven he can duel with Sabathia twice.  Though AL East teams notoriously do not trade within the division at the deadline, it would be a dream move for the Yankees if they could pull it off.

Realistically, however, when the deadline comes and goes, it does not look like the Yankees will have another front-end starter acquired.  Jimenez is not enough of an improvement, Hughes is hard to trade so soon and, though Shields would be nice, he would be difficult to obtain without giving up a lot.  This may be a season to grind out, start by start, finding wins between Sabathia's performances, which usually seem like near-guaranteed wins.