Kansas City Royals: Johnny Cueto Upset at White House Snub

Johnny Cueto was the Royals headlining deadline addition last summer, which helped them reach the World Series and ultimately win it. He was not invited on the team’s upcoming trip to the White House.

Earlier in the week, Jonny Gomes expressed his displeasure at not being invited to join the Kansas City Royals on their trip to the White House following their World Series Championship. Gomes was traded to the Royals during the season, but is playing this season in Japan.

Another former Royals player has now come forward with displeasure over being left off the list of guests. When the Royals acquired Johnny Cueto at the trade deadline, he gave them the extra push they needed down the stretch and in the playoffs. He even pitched a complete game shutout in game 2 of the World Series. While there were a few players from the 2015 Royals team left off the guest list, Cueto is the one player who had the most direct influence on the Royals winning the World Series.

On Saturday, Cueto was asked about missing the chance to join the team on their trip, despite already being on the east coast with his current team, the San Francisco Giants, and made some comments that expressed how disappointed he was.

Cueto was rightfully upset about being left off the guest list to visit the President and White House, which has come to be considered part of the reward of winning a sports championship. Despite having good reason to be upset, the Royals knew they had a limited number of guests allowed to enter the White House. Rather than include a wider number of individuals, they decided to allow each invited member to bring guests along as well.

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According to Kansas City Royals beat writer, Rustin Dodd, the Royals had specific guidelines set in place for who would receive an invitation to the White House visit. Those guidelines were that the player had to be on the team all year, be on the postseason roster, and still currently be on the team. Unfortunately for Cueto, he only fulfilled one of the three requirements to go on the trip.

While the situation is unfortunate for Cueto, the Royals cannot really be faulted for setting up a series of guidelines and following through with them. It should be noted that the Royals came up with these guidelines themselves, and certainly are not what every team does when organizing the annual trip.

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It is worth noting that in their many recent visits to the White House, the Giants have not had the same rules restricting player attendance. If Cueto is able to help bring the Giants to another World Series title, he will get his wish of seeing the White House.