MLB Trade Retrospective, July 26, 2015: Johnny Cueto to the Royals
Johnny Cueto with the Royals
Johnny Cueto was supposed to become the Royals’ ace, but his regular season performance for the Royals down the stretch was not even close to ace level. He went 4-7 with a 4.76 ERA (4.06 FIP), 1.45 WHIP and 6.2 K/9. Rather than lead off the playoffs with Cueto, the Royals chose to start Yordano Ventura in the first game of the ALDS and they lost, 5-2.
Cueto was tabbed to start Game 2. He struggled early, giving up four runs in the first three innings as the Royals fell behind, 4-2. Cueto gutted through six innings and held the Astros in check at four runs. The Royals scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game, then turned it over to Kelvin Herrera, Ryan Madson and Wade Davis to close it out while scoring the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh in the 5-4 victory.
Four days later, with the series tied at two games apiece, Cueto was back on the mound for the decisive Game 5. He gave up two runs in the second inning on a two-run homer by Luis Valbuena, but then shut down the Astros for the next six innings. The Royals put seven runs on the board and won easily, advancing to the ALCS.
Cueto got his first start in the ALCS after the Royals had already taken a 2-games-to-0 lead. He was blasted, giving up eight runs in two innings. The Blue Jays won the game, 11-8, but Cueto would not pitch again in the series.
In three starts in the ALDS and ALCS, Cueto had allowed 14 runs in 16 innings (7.88 ERA). It was hard to know what Cueto would do with a start in the World Series. Rather than start him on seven days’ rest, the Royals tabbed Volquez to start Game 1 of the World Series on five days’ rest. The squeaked out a 5-4 victory in 14 innings. Cueto would start Game 2.
After being erratic in his previous three postseason starts, Cueto was masterful in this game. He pitched a complete game and allowed a single run on two hits. The win put the Royals up two games to none and helped them win the World Series in five games.
The ultimate goal of every MLB team is winning the World Series and the Kansas City Royals did that. The trade for Cueto, though, had mixed results. He didn’t help them much down the stretch in the regular season. In the postseason, he had two good starts and two ugly ones. When the season ended, Cueto became a free agent.
Next: Three Young Pitchers with the Reds