Ubaldo Jimenez On Reds’ Radar

The Reds have Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez "on their radar," report Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  However, the Rockies "have yet to engage in meaningful dialogue about Jimenez with the Reds or any other club," and the Reds are not certain to be trade deadline buyers.

If the Rockies do seriously entertain trading Jimenez, it will shake a trade market bereft of front-end starting pitchers.  Rosenthal said on Saturday that the Rockies "are not shopping Jimenez, but they will listen on anyone other than Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez."  Rosenthal said that "if the Rockies get an offer that makes sense, they will give it serious consideration."

Jimenez, 27, has lost almost three miles per hour off his average fastball velocity this year, though his peripheral stats haven't changed much since a 2010 season that placed him third in the NL Cy Young voting.  He's got a 4.14 ERA overall, but a 2.52 ERA in his last eight starts.  This is not a "buy low" situation – Jimenez is under team control very cheaply through 2013.  Jimenez has extra value to Colorado, since he can void his $8MM club option for '14 if traded.  Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post tweets that while the Rockies always listen when teams call, they'd have to be overwhelmed to move Jimenez, receiving multiple arms.

Rosenthal and Morosi kick around the idea of a Reds package starting with Homer Bailey, Mike Leake, or Travis Wood, but I think that could be beat if teams like the Yankees, Cardinals, Tigers, Phillies, or Pirates come calling.