Why Did We Make This Trade?

We heard during the game that Ubaldo Jimenez was traded to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for SP Alex White, SP Drew Pomeranz, SP Joe Gardner, and 1B/OF Matt McBride.

This was not the trade the Rockies needed to make.

Let's look at this on paper.

Pomeranz profiles to be an ace if everything works out as it should.

White looks to be a guy who could be a Tim Hudson Lite if everything goes to plan - effectively a #2.

Joe Gardner could be a replacement for Aaron Cook, what with a massive GB rate.

Matt McBride should fill Mike Jacob's slot in the Springs nicely.

Before moving Ubaldo, GM Dan O'Dowd said that it would take a Herschel Walker type trade to land Ubaldo.

Well, let's go back to on paper land. Assuming these prospects pan out (and whether or not they will is something I'd really rather not go over), Pomeranz replaces Jimenez as Ace. White fits in behind DLR as the #2b. Right there we've made the WAR equal or whatever. In that regard, the Rockies made the winning trade.

Here's my beef. I wanted to pillage some team's minor league system/top prospect list (which we just did), but I wanted it to hurt at all levels to get Ubaldo. I wanted people to be laughing at what Cleveland gave up for Ubaldo. 

This was pretty big, but people aren't nearly livid enough for my tastes.

That wouldn't be the end of the world, but if we couldn't get the out-of-their-mind trade from Cleveland, how about we fill the holes at 2B or 3B we were hoping for?

Dude, we were supposed to get pitching replacements, maybe even upgrades, AND some sort of monstrous hitting prospect that would fill our problems at 2B/3B or maybe just hold something down until 1B becomes available.

Without getting that big bat, we just traded Ubaldo Jimenez....for more pitching. It wasn't about the money, it wasn't about the contract, it wasn't some sort of cheapskate thing. But it was a move that didn't need to be made.

We aren't the Giants. We don't play in AT&T. We play in Coors Field. We aren't going to beat the Giants at their own game of "pitch out of our minds, find some way to score 3 runs because we logically shouldn't be able to". It's just not happening.

Look, I'm not saying we got fleeced. I'm not saying Dan O'Dowd is a moron who couldn't trade his way out of a paper bag (because I'd wager we'll hear that sometime soon from somewhere). The Rockies got a good baseball return in this trade, and O'Dowd may have more solid moves to make this offseason. But the Rockies are left with admittedly better pitching and the same underperforming hitting, and from where we stand, we haven't improved ourselves enough to win this thing.