Cincinnati Send Johnny Cueto To The Royals

Johnny Cueto was sent to the Kansas City Royals by the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for three prospects recently. Despite losing Game Seven of the World Series to San Francisco, the Royals currently hold the best record in the American League. However, the underperformance of Yordano Ventura and injury of Jason Vargas highlighted the need to beef up its pitching lineup for the season.

The last time Kansas City won the title was in 1985. The trade was announced at the third inning of the home game of Kansas City against Houston on Sunday.

Cueto said he was excited for the next chapter of his life and he knows that Kansas City plays good baseball. He added that he is excited since the trade is good for his career and the team.

Johnny Cueto spent his whole career with the Reds and is eligible for free agency at the end of the season. But Cincinnati is planning for the future and may make a number of trades before the non-waiver deadline on Friday. Among the players who may be traded are Aroldis Chapman and Mike Leake.

Minor-league left-handers Cody Reed, Brandon Finnegan and John Lamb went to the Reds in exchange for Cueto, who is among the best starters in the market. Cincinnati will also pay for part of the remaining salary of Cueto until the end of the year. Walt Jocketty, Cincinnati general manager, said team felt that Johnny Cueto was the best asset they had. He added that Cueto will enter a great situation since he will join people he knows and a team that has a chance of reaching the World Series.

Johnny Cueto Traded To Kansas City - image credit:

Reed was assigned to Double-A Pensacola while Lamb and Finnegan went to Triple-A Louisville.

Finnegan was a first-round draft pick of the Royals last year and played in seven playoff games in 2014. However, he split his time with Kansas City and Triple-A Omaha this year. Lamb was picked in the fifth round in 2008 and is 9-1 with a 2.67 ERA with Omaha.

The 29-year-old Johnny Cueto won twenty games in the previous season and is currently 7-6 with a 2.62 ERA this year. He had eight scoreless innings in the 5-2 win of Cincinnati against Colorado last Saturday. His major league debut came in 2008 with Cincinnati and is 92-63 in the past eight seasons with the Reds.

The trade with Cincinnati shows a change in Kansas City, which used to trade its best players for prospects just before the deadline. The team is currently working on taking advantage of its current situation as a contender for the World Series. A number of top young players will be eligible for arbitration and may become expensive by the end of the year.

Even as Kansas City team owner David Glass is agreeable to increasing the payroll, the time for the Royals to remain in contention is limited before it will have to start rebuilding the team. The trade also brings Cueto and Edinson Volquez, who played for the Reds of four years.

Volquez signed a two-year $20 million deal with the Royals during the off-season and was the mentor of Johnny Cueto when he entered the major league in 2008.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday July 27 2015, 8:20 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0