One (fake) example: @hwkane: "SOURCES: Reds like Ubaldo Jimenez, but are unwilling to part with top position player prospects and don't like Ubaldo's tall socks." See?
No doubt this makes the deadline more engaging for fans because there is always a new scoop to follow. For Rockies fans, this also makes it a difficult week because the players we follow are so likable. In previous posts I have mentioned the notion that fans of my generation get used to "cheering for jerseys" because of the lack of player (or team) loyalty. I think one of the most enjoyable things about cheering for the Rockies in the last five years is that we get to know these players. They are accessible and many seem to have fun personalities. We don't just like them individually as players; we like them for how they fit as a Rockie.
We know Ryan Spilborghs is the class clown. We know Ubaldo Jimenez is the soft spoken leader who everybody respects. We know Troy Tulowitzki models himself after Derek Jeter. We know Todd Helton sticks to business but has a wicked and dry sense of humor if you listen closely.
At the beginning of the season, we got excited about the possibilities for this team. And it was not just the talent on paper. Because we feel more connected to the team, it was also the notion that this blend of fun and fan-friendly personalities was the right formula for success. Fans get extra pay-off when they have a sense of the team chemistry that played a role in a successful run. We got that with Rocktober 2007. San Francisco Giants fans got it last year cheering for their band of misfits. That's what we wanted this year.
Just one problem: this blend of awesome personalities stinks at baseball. Oops. Now that it looks like the 2011 Colorado Rockies are destined for mediocrity, baseball insiders are throwing multiple Rockies names out there in speculation. The biggest name is Ubaldo Jimenez.
There might be baseball reasons to trade Ubaldo now. If the Rockies see a flaw that will continue to show in the long term, they can sell high and fill multiple needs (and to be clear, the Rockies certainly have numerous holes to fill). If a team is willing to significantly overpay, you might be able to pull a "Bartolo Colon" trade (who else forgot that the Expos traded Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, and Brandon Phillips for Bartolo and his vicious four-seam fastball? I did, and...yikes). There were baseball reasons to trade Matt Holliday, and even though he is raking in St. Louis nobody can question the value the Rockies got for him.
That's how analysts and writers view things. It's different for fans. Sure, we are in favor of the Holliday trade now because we understand how important CarGo and Huston Street are to the current team (and to the 2009 playoff team).
When that trade happened, however, it stung. We loved Matt Holliday because we screamed when he got robbed in the 2007 MVP race, because of the winning run in the play-in game, and because of the times that we laughed/cried/threw things because of his defense in left field. He waved to fans, was always nice in post game interviews. We hated losing those things about him.
Now we are faced with the prospect of losing everybody's favorite Rockies pitcher. He's not our favorite because of his stuff and his numbers. It's because we like laughing at the way he runs, we like seeing him interact with the young Latin pitchers, we are still touched by how soft spoken he is in interviews, and we love how his demeanor never changed from when he was on top of baseball to now when he is struggling. For all those reasons, we want Ubaldo to stay our guy, even if his velocity is down or if he has a flawed delivery or if management might get a "grand slam" deal for him. That's why we're fans and management is management. We get to be unreasonable and emotional.
Ubaldo Jimenez might not get traded. In pre-Twitter seasons, we would celebrate the day after the deadline. Ubaldo is staying! Yes! It was that simple. Now we know his asking price, who wanted him, why they might trade him, why other teams backed off and that he might be available again in the off season. I'm not sure if it will feel right to celebrate a non-trade in this climate.
On the one hand, all of this information makes it easier to be a cool, objective, and cutthroat fan. On the other, it makes it difficult to cling to the irrational and emotional opinions that make being a fan so fun in the first place.
So let me be so bold and speak for Rockies fans here. We choose to remain emotional about Ubaldo. We feel attached to him, we want him to be our guy. Please, please, please don't trade him. Sign him to that extension you talked about last off season. Give us Tulo, CarGo, and Ubaldo as the long term faces of the franchise. We like them a lot.
If nothing else, don't trade him to the fucking Yankees.
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