The Cleveland Indians won the Ubaldo Jimenez sweepstakes after acquiring the right hander in a trade with the Colorado Rockies Saturday night.
In exchange for Jimenez, the Rockies get Drew Pomeranz, Alex White and Matt McBride.
Jimenez, who is still young at 27, has a 4.20 ERA with 8.6 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 46.8% ground ball rate at just over the midway point of the season. He’s had an up and down season in which he’s shown stretches of brilliance, mediocrity and poor performances. Jimenez is most known for his breakout performance in 2010 in which he finished third in the NL Cy Young voting. He ended up posting a 2.88 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 221 2/3 innings.
Contract wise Jimenez will be a fixture in Cleveland’s rotation for the next few seasons. He earns $2.2 million for the remainder of this season and $4.2 million in 2012. He currently has an $5.75 club option for 2013 and an $8 million dollar club option for 2014. According to MLBTradeRumors.com, that 2014 club option is now voided because of the trade.
Pomeranz appears to be the centerpiece of the deal for Colorado. The 22-year-old lefty has a 1.98 ERA in 91 innings this year, which includes time mostly with Cleveland’s High-A team. Baseball America ranked him as the 14th best prospect in the game earlier this month. Now Pomeranz officially cannot be named in this trade since he hasn’t yet fulfilled a year of his professional contract. Pomeranz will officially be named part of this deal on August 15th.
White was the 15th overall pick for Cleveland in the 2009 draft. He did make his major league debut this season with the Tribe getting himself three starts before being placed on the disabled list with a strained finger limit, pitching to a 3.60 ERA. At one point he was considered the 47th best prospect in the majors according to Baseball America.
Source: Baseball America, MLBTradeRumors.com, Twitter, SI.com, Fox Sports