"Ubaldo Jimenez was a superstar who walked to the ballpark. Nobody liked him, other than the owners, the general manager, his teammates, fans, autograph seekers, reporters and stadium ushers.

That left the raw question Sunday as his trade to the Indians became official when he passed a physical: Why did the Rockies trade their greatest pitcher ever?

There were a confluence of factors, beginning with his curious mediocrity over the past 13 months and the club's desire to fill pitching gaps in a minor-league system weakened by misses on first-round picks Greg Reynolds and Casey Weathers.

"This isn't rebuilding, this is restocking," general manager Dan O'Dowd said while acknowledging misses in the draft. "Even if we were 10 games up instead of 10 games back, it would have been hard to say no to this deal."

The Rockies received hard-throwing left-hander Drew Pomeranz, who can't be announced until the one-year anniversary of his signing last Aug. 15, along with right-hander Alex White, Double-A reliever Joe Gardner and Double-A utilityman Matt McBride.

Players were disappointed to see Jimenez go, but there were no smashed water coolers or broken bats. Believing they were World Series contenders in spring training, the Rockies sit six games under .500.

"We are not a good team right now, so things like this happen when you don't play well and live up to expectations," 15-year veteran Todd Helton said. "They did what they thought was best for the team now and the future. This is not like 2003 (with Todd and the Toddlers). I know what that feels like, and this isn't that."

O'Dowd agonized over the decision. He knows baseball's creed: Every team needs an ace, and trading one begins an unnerving pursuit for the next one. Originally, O'Dowd made Jimenez available to motivate him. Then as the trade proposals began crossing his desk, he began to wonder: Is this as good as it's going to get?"