Reds trade top starter Johnny Cueto to Royals
The Royals have reached an agreement to acquire right-hander Johnny Cueto from the Reds, CBSSports.com Baseball Insider Jon Heyman has confirmed.
While some reports had it that talks between the two sides had stalled, Heyman reported Sunday morning that the deal was still alive.
It’s not yet known who’s headed to the Reds in return, but Heyman adds this:
hearing lefties john lamb and brandon finnegan could be in cueto trade. not confirmed. @jonmorosi @JeffPassan on this.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 26, 2015
Cueto, 29, has pitched to a 2.62 ERA (145 ERA+) in 130 2/3 innings this season. For his career, Cueto owns an ERA+ of 125 across 213 starts. He’s been even better than that in recent history, as he’s run an ERA of 2.51 (155 ERA+) since his breakout season of 2011. Over that span, only Clayton Kershaw, among qualifiers, has posted a lower ERA. While injuries were a past concern, Cueto since the start of last season has worked 374 1/3 innings.
Cueto is owed the balance of a $10-million salary for 2015, and he’s eligible for free agency this upcoming offseason.
While the Royals, reigning AL champions, are enjoying a successful season thus far in 2015 — they’re on pace for 98 wins and presently lead the AL Central by 6 1/2 games over the Twins — the rotation needed reinforcement, particularly after the season-ending injury to Jason Vargas and the disappointing performance of Yordano Ventura. This season, the Royals’ rotation ranks last in the AL in WAR, 11th in the AL in ERA, 14th in the AL in quality-start percentage, and last in innings per start. Needless to say, an established ace like Cueto directly addresses those shortcomings.
Johnny Cueto is headed to Kansas City, where he’ll front the Royals’ rotation. (USATSI)
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