Indians Sending Top Pitching Prospects To Rockies For Ubaldo Jiménez

It’s an odd headline. And it’s a bit of leap in logic, not unlike a shoddily crafted conspiracy theory. But hear me out.

Ubaldo was locked up through 2014 for a total of $18 million. He can void the 2014 option now that he’s been traded, but with the Rockies he was locked up for three years at about 33 percent of what he’d make on the open market.

But if nothing else, they have budged. Reports Jon Heyman:

As for the Yankees, they could re-emerge as a serious suitor at any time, as they have the pieces. With fewer than 24 hours to go until the deadline, you have not heard the last of Ubaldo Jimenez trade rumors.

The Tigers seem certain to add a starting pitcher. It just won’t be Jimenez, unless things seriously change.

The Tigers have been rumored to be in on pretty much every single pitcher on the market, so it makes sense that they’d be in on Jimenez, who is probably the best of the bunch.

It would take more than Turner to get a deal completed, but he could be a centerpiece. Stay tuned, as I’m sure there will be much much more on Ubaldo before the deadline passes.

Got all that? I know it sounds complicated, but it’s actually pretty simple: The most valuable commodity in baseball is a good player who comes cheap, and that’s Ubaldo Jiménez. One Ubaldo Jiménez is worth two (or three) top prospects, because even top prospects don’t have anything like a 100-percent success rate.

The Indians are poor, but money’s not really a consideration here because Jiménez is owed just $4.2 million in 2012 and $5.75 in 2013. He’s affordable for any team in the majors. What’s more, while the Indians will have to deal two or three top prospects to get Jiménez, in the event that they’re not contending next summer, they could quite probably deal him for two or three other top prospects. Unless he’s hurt.

Or ineffective. But that seems unlikely. While Jiménez’s ERA has taken a tumble this season, his underlying performance is roughly the same as it was in 2010 and 2009; he’s a very good pitcher who might have a bit of room for growth. Even without the growth, he would make every team in the majors better.

But then Jon Morosi checked in with this:

And Joel Sherman added: