Dillon Atkinson: Orioles' signing of Jimenez now well worth it

Heading into the 2014 season, after inking a new four-year, $50 million deal with the Orioles, Ubaldo Jimenez was expected to be near the top of the club's rotation, just behind right-hander Chris Tillman. This wasn't the case, however, as Jimenez was arguably the worst pitcher on staff, recording a 4.73 ERA, a 4.79 fielding independent pitching (FIP) and an abysmal 5.48 walks per nine innings over 22 starts, averaging just over 5.1 innings pitched per outing. The Orioles placed Jimenez on the 15-day disabled list on July 11, 2014 with an ankle injury. When he returned from the disabled list on August 9, he made two starts before being demoted to the bullpen, with Kevin Gausman taking his rotation spot. And to put icing on the cake, Jimenez was left off the Orioles' American League Championship Series roster that year.

After the 2014 season, Orioles fans wanted Jimenez gone. Not only that, but the O's were reportedly exploring trades that would be sending Jimenez away, likely just as a salary dump. The Orioles were unable to find a partner, however, which impacted Gausman's role in the organization to begin the 2015 season.

In 2015, Jimenez won the fifth spot in the rotation over Gausman and turned in a much better campaign, pitching as the second-best starter on the ballclub. He lowered his walks per nine innings to 3.33, ERA to 4.11 and FIP to 4.01. His also increased his 2014 groundball percentage of 41.4 percent to 49.1 percent in 2015, which ranked in the top 10 of all AL starters in 2015.

Jimenez's main problem in his struggles has been his walk rate. In 2014, he only had one outing - which was in relief - that he did not allow a walk, and he even walked three or more batters in 15 of his 22 starts. In 2015, he walked three or more batters in just 13 of his 32 starts, and walked zero batters in five games, which is definitely a huge improvement.

Now in 2016, the Jimenez deal is looking even brighter than it started to look in 2015. With the free agent departure of Wei-Yin Chen and the early disabled list stint for Gausman, the birds have had to roll with right-handers Mike Wright and Vance Worley as their fourth and fifth starters, respectively. Without the signing of Jimenez in 2014, the Orioles rotation would then consist of Wright, Worley, Tyler Wilson, Chris Tillman and Yovani Gallardo. As you may already know and call me crazy about, I'm not too hot on Gallardo so far this year, and it's always hard to pinpoint what you're going to get out of Tillman.

Oh yeah, and if you loved seeing Nelson Cruz hit a lot of homers at Camden Yards in 2014, you can thank the Jimenez signing for him as well. Without coughing up $50 million over four years along with their first round draft pick, the Orioles wouldn't have signed Cruz - who also had draft pick compensation attached to him - to a one-year deal.

If you still don't enjoy the four-year, $50 million pact the Orioles signed Jimenez to, just remember that it could be a lot worse. The Orioles could've signed the Padres' James Shields to his four-year, $75 million deal or the Red Sox's Rick Porcello to his four-year, $82.5 million deal. Jimenez is not only making less money than each of these pitchers, but he also outperformed them in 2015. Compared to what starting pitchers are making nowadays, the Orioles are paying Jimenez fourth starter money to be possibly the shiniest rock in the current rotation. The signing was one that all of us couldn't stand at one point in time, but is now one that is beneficial to the ballclub.

Dillon Atkinson blogs about the Orioles for Orioles Uncensored. Follow him on Twitter: @DAtkinsonOU. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.