MLB Trade Retrospective, July 26, 2015: Johnny Cueto to the Royals

Less than a week before last year’s MLB trade deadline, the Kansas City Royals traded three young pitchers for a staff ace to bolster their chances to win the World Series.

One year ago today, the Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds were headed in opposite directions. The Royals had come within one Madison Bumgarner from winning the World Series the previous year and were leading the AL Central by 6.5 games. They had the best record in the American League.

As good as the Royals were, their starting rotation did not look championship caliber. Veteran Edinson Volquez (3.55 ERA) would lead the staff in innings and starts and would finish the year with 13 wins, tied for the team lead with young Yordano Ventura (4.08 ERA). Danny Duffy (4.08 ERA) had an effective year and Chris Young had a surprisingly good year (3.06 ERA), but Jeremy Guthrie was awful (5.95 ERA). The team was looking for an ace, not just for the regular season, but also for the postseason. They wanted someone who could match up with the top pitchers on whatever teams they would face in the ALDS and, hopefully, ALCS.

The Cincinnati Reds were in a much different place on the success cycle. After making the playoffs three times in four years from 2010 to 2013, the Reds had finished fourth in 2014. They were 43-52 and sitting 19 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central at this point of the 2015 season. Their playoff hopes were non-existent.

The Reds’ top pitcher was Johnny Cueto, who had been a 20-game winner the previous season and had finished second in the NL Cy Young voting. At this point of the season, he was 7-6 with a 2.62 ERA (3.20 FIP), 0.93 WHIP and 8.3 K/9. He would be a free agent at the end of the season. With the Reds going nowhere, Cueto was dealt to the Royals. In exchange, they picked up three young left-handed pitchers: Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed.

Next: Cueto with the Royals