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Johnny Cueto Should Not be Shopped by Cincinnati Reds

By Josh Sippie

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The Cincinnati Reds are in the midst of a very disappointing season. In a year that they were supposed to be competing in the ever-fluctuating National League Central division, the Red currently sit 23-31, good for fourth in the division.

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As such, it is all but set in stone that the Reds will be selling some of their premium assets this summer, including NL Cy Young contender Johnny Cueto and the Cuban Missile Crisis Aroldis Chapman.

But even being 13 games out of first place, should the Reds really be looking to clean house already? According to IBT, not even the Reds are sure.

The Reds have been contenders across the past couple of years with nearly the same squad that they have now. With a pitching staff that’s anchored by Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake and a batting order with the likes of Joey Votto, Todd Frazier and Brandon Phillips, the Reds have a lot of what it takes to be perennial contenders in a relatively easy-to-contend division.

If you throw out the Cardinals, who are running away with the division, the Reds are only 6.5 games back of the second place Pittsburgh Pirates. Wild Card contention is not that far out of their sights, but they won’t be able to do it without their ace and closer.

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Johnny Cueto has been one of the few things that has been gone right for the Reds this year, so to part ways with him would invoke a plummet to the bottom where the Brewers are holding down the fort.

Most of the Reds’ problems stem from Homer Bailey being out for the season after Tommy John surgery. Having that void in the rotation isn’t an easy fix. But even if this year is a loss, dishing Johnny Cueto now puts you on the back foot for next year, when Homer Bailey is back along with the rest of the supporting cast that has gotten the Reds to some fairly decent success in the past few years.

Johnny Cueto is an invaluable starter who can win games pretty much by himself. The season isn’t even half way over yet and the wild card is still well within the Red’s sights. There isn’t a team out there that wouldn’t be thrilled to welcome Johnny Cueto into their midst but it’s in the Reds best interests to resist the advances and weather the storm. It’s not exactly an easy task to replace Johnny Cueto and the Reds shouldn’t be putting themselves in a situation where they should have too.

Next: Mesoraco the answer?

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