After just one season, the Baltimore Orioles may be ready to part ways with starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.
According to MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby, via MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli, the O’s are actively shopping the 30-year-old veteran:
Although Dan Duquette hit a home run with the Nelson Cruz signing last winter, he seems to be accepting defeat on this one.
Duquette and the Orioles tossed four years and $50 million at Jimenez, who followed up a pair of mediocre seasons with a solid 2013 campaign that saw him finish with a 3.30 ERA and a career-high 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings in Cleveland.
But he plummeted back to replacement-level status in ’14, going 6-9 with a 4.81 ERA, 1.52 WHIP and a horribly wild 5.5 walks per nine. The latter was a career-worst, even for Jimenez, who has always struggled with his control.
As Ghiroli noted, with Jimenez being owed just over $38 million over the next three seasons, the O’s will have to work to find a trade partner:
Duquette and Co. will have to either pay a portion of his contract or throw in a mid-level prospect to make something happen, but cutting their losses could be worth it to free up some room on the books.
Any potential suitors, on the other hand, would be taking a risk in hopes Jimenez could find his 2013 form in a new environment.
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