With Ubaldo Jimenez Deal, Cleveland Indians Trade Future for Present

Just days before the 2011 MLB trade deadline, the Cleveland Indians pulled off arguably the most explosive trade in team history when Cleveland GM Chris Antonetti acquired Pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for four prospects, most notably the Indians' 2009 and 2010 first-round draft selections, Alex White and Drew Pomeranz.

This deal has sent shock waves through Major League Baseball because even though there were rumors the Indians were making an aggressive move towards Jimenez, few expected Cleveland to actually land the most sought-after starting pitcher on the market.

You also have to take into account the fact that the Indians have almost never made a splash quite like this at the end of July. Sure, they have traded away stars—such as C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, and Bartolo Colon—but they have almost never been on the receiving end of a deal of this magnitude at the deadline.

Was this the right move? Did the Indians give up too much for too little in return?

Only time will tell.

It will most likely take years to determine if their risk was worth the reward, but the Indians organization as a whole has sent a message to its fan base and didn't need a Facebook page or Twitter update to do it.

"Let's not be mistaken, the plan is to win games, get into the postseason, and win a championship," explained Indians GM Chris Antonetti in an interview with MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince. "Nobody's smart enough to know when factors will line up to have those opportunities. We have an opportunity in front of us to potentially reach the postseason. We don't take those opportunities lightly.”

To properly asses this deal, you have to look at the big picture.

No matter what you want to say about the Indians' ownership, Cleveland is a small market, and the club will never again be able to boast a large salary, no matter who owns the club. This is simply the economics of the game today.

If you look at the Indians’ core talent and their contract situations, you will see why this deal made sense to the Cleveland front office.

Shin-Soo Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera, Chris Perez, Rafael Perez, and now Ubaldo Jimenez will all become free agents after the 2013 season. Fausto Carmona, Justin Masterson, and Travis Hafner will become free-agents following the 2014 campaign.

This leaves players such as Michael Brantley, Carlos Santana, Josh Tomlin, Carlos Corrasco, David Huff, Tony Sipp, and Vinny Pestano under team control beyond 2014.

The Indians now have a rotation of Jimenez, Masterson, Tomlin, Carmona, Corrasco, and/or Huff under control for at least the next two years, not to mention guys like Zach McAllister, Jeanmar Gomez, Scott Barnes, Justin Germano, and Nick Hagadone down in Triple-A Columbus.

The Indians want to win now, and in reality Alex White and Drew Pomeranz didn't fit into those plans.

Many forget that former CY Young Award-winners C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee weren’t always fan favorites in their early years with the team. Young guys are going to be inconsistent.

Now, that does not mean that all the work is finished.

No matter what happens this season, the Indians will almost surely be looking to add some offense over the offseason. Many were upset that they did little to help a struggling offense before the deadline, but in actuality there were very few options.

In the long run, no one can know for sure how this trade will shake out, but the Indians front office has positioned the team to be a legitimate championship contender for at least the next two years.

In a town where teams are usually “building for the future,” the course the Indians are on started yesterday rather than tomorrow.