Yankees Trade Rumors: Is Ubaldo Jimenez Still on the Bronx Bombers' Trade Radar?

Four days remain until the July 31 MLB trade deadline at 4:00 p.m. There has been so much speculation and buzz surrounding the deadline and what the New York Yankees are going to do before then.

On this site, we have discussed their needs; a left-handed reliever for the bullpen is certainly one of them. The other, which has gone all the way back to December, is a starting pitcher.

This past week, the Yankees got a really good look at their rotation to see what they were getting out of it.

On Sunday, Bartolo Colon gave the Yankees seven quality innings and won his game against Oakland.

On Monday, Freddy Garcia had the Mariners guessing all night and he was dominant in a win.

On Tuesday, CC Sabathia had a perfect game until the seventh inning, but still held the Mariners offense down.

The Yankees got quality out of those three guys. They did not get quality out of Phil Hughes or A.J. Burnett, though.

Hughes was spotted a 14-2 lead by the Yankees on Friday and he did all he could to give Oakland back the runs and make the game resemble a football score.

He did not pitch out of the fifth inning and couldn't get what was supposed to be an easy win.

The next day, Burnett couldn't get out of his own way in the sixth inning. After getting through the first two batters, he allowed a single and then walked the eighth and ninth batters of the Oakland lineup to load the bases, which led to Burnett getting pulled.

Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record wrote how the Yankees front office may finally be getting tired of Burnett's act, especially when it costs them $16 million per year.

According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, the Yankees called the Rockies today, still asking about Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez.

While a lot of people thought the Yankees' shot of a deal for Jimenez might have been slim, that might not be the case going into this week. Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com said this week that a deal for Jimenez is about 50/50, which has increased from the 10-20 percent chance given about 10 days ago.

Dan Knobler of CBSSports.com posted via Twitter that the Yankees are the team with the best chances of landing Jimenez, according to his sources.

Mark Miller of Yahoo! Sports also posted the same thing, saying that according to his sources, the Yankees have the best chances to land the Rockies ace before July 31.

The Rockies' original asking price of the Yankees was catcher Jesus Montero and pitchers Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances and Ivan Nova. On July 17, my story on this site pondered whether or not Jimenez was worth a "King's Ransom" for the Yankees that the Rockies were seeking.

There have also been major rumors of the Cincinnati Reds being involved for Jimenez as well, and Colorado's asking price is Travis Wood, Homer Bailey and either Aroldis Chapman or top catching prospect Devin Mesoraco.

The Reds haven't said yes or no to Colorado in regard to that deal, so who knows if it gets done? Which leads back to the Yankees, with the "best chance" of landing Jimenez.

I think Wednesday's game against the Mariners is going to be a big factor in the Yankees decision process with Hughes pitching again. In the series with Seattle, the Yankees have made their offense look abysmal and have helped add on to the Mariners' current 17-game losing streak.

If Hughes goes out there and pulls off another stinker on the mound, and even loses to Seattle, the Yankees' sense of urgency may go into overdrive.

Until some other team makes a deal for Jimenez or the 4:00 p.m. deadline on July 31 passes, the Jimenez-Yankees rumors will not go away quietly. Certainly not when they are still in great shape for playoff contention and have an obvious need in the starting rotation.

Colorado right now is 48-56 and is likely to have no shot at the postseason in 2011, so right now, they are sellers.

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated said Colorado recently had a "two-hour internal conference call to go over the trade alternatives" for Jimenez.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted yesterday that the feeling from baseball executives is that the Rockies really want to get a deal done and trade Jimenez.

Are the Yankees willing to mortgage the farm for Jimenez?

Some of the writers at Bleacher Report here feel that, unless it's a deal for Seattle's Felix Hernandez or Los Angeles Angels' Jered Weaver, they should not trade the prospects. But does Yankees GM Brian Cashman feel the same way? As far as we know, he hasn't wanted to trade them.

But with four days left and question marks hovering over his pitching staff, he might not be so sure about that.

Right now, I'm with Morosi and say a deal is about 50/50 to get done in the next four days for the Yankees.

One side: I don't know if I can see Cashman parting with his top prospects. On the other side, he knows how important it is for the Yankees to get to October and win a championship.

The last time the Yankees made a big-time trade for a starting pitcher at the deadline, it was July 28, 1995, when the Yankees got David Cone from the Blue Jays for three minor league players.

That trade worked out extremely well for the Yankees.

They came close to landing another big-time starter last year on July 10, 2010, when the Yankees nearly got Cliff Lee from the Mariners, but the deal fell apart and Lee ended up going to the Rangers that night.

It's been 16 years since the Yankees made a deal at the deadline for the type of starter they are seeking in Jimenez.

What will the Yankees do over the next four days? Is Jimenez the guy the Yankees really covet? Or is the asking price still so high they will end up passing?

That fire on the Yankees Hot Stove continues to burn. Stay tuned.