SUNDAY, 10:38am: The Royals remain “hopeful” they can revive the Cueto deal with the Reds, sources tell Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
8:47am: The two sides are still discussing a deal that would send Cueto to Kansas City, Jim Bowden of ESPN.com tweets.
SATURDAY, 11:46pm: The Royals were close to acquiring Reds ace Johnny Cueto tonight, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The reporters hear that one of the players the Reds would have acquired “did not check out medically,” causing the deal to fall through.
Tonight at Coors Field, Cueto tossed eight scoreless innings in what might have been his final start in a Reds uniform. The deal with the Royals was apparently close enough that Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen had been warming up before the game, prepared to take Cueto’s place. Cueto was not happy, later telling reporters, “I don’t want to use a bad word in this location, but it was really bad how I found out what happen.” Mark Sheldon and Dargan Southard of MLB.com quoted catcher Brayan Pena describing Cueto, “I’m telling you, today he was on a mission. I saw something in his eyes that I never saw before.”
Cueto, 29, now sports a 2.62 ERA in 130 2/3 innings this year. He’s months from his first shot at free agency, and the fourth-place Reds seem likely to trade him by Friday’s deadline. Along with the Royals, the Dodgers and Blue Jays are among the teams that have been linked to Cueto. The first domino in the starting pitching market dropped Thursday when the Astros acquired Scott Kazmir.
Cafardo and Rosenthal and Heyman reported throughout the day 10 different teams were all-in on Cueto. KC wasn’t mentioned.
List was bunk anyway. The Tigers or Red Sox don’t want Cueto.
The Tigers would absolutely want Cueto if they can parlay Cespedes and something else into him and if they think they can sign him instead of Price long term.
The Tigers will either buy OR sell. They are not going to trade a rental, while acquiring a rental. If the buy, Cue to would fit nicely. Wouldn’t mind that Chapman guy either.
I think the Tigers might trade Cespedes + _____ for Cueto (leveraging 3rd team to provide the prospects to the Reds). Why?
1. Cespedes’s weird contract forces the Tigers to either sign him before he becomes a free agent, or have to wait until May 15th of next year (which is not happening).
They could offer him a fair “take it or leave it” deal now. If he rejects, they could explain that they have no choice but to trade him, but “no hard feelings”… they did it because of the contract… and they would be interested in revisiting a long term deal right after the season.
All indications are the he wants to be a Tiger long term, but also wants to be a free agent (similar to Anibal).
2. Cueto is more important than Cespedes if the Tigers make the playoffs. Cueto, Anibal and Price can eat up 70% of the Tigers innings in a playoff run, masking the rest of their poor pitching squad.
It doesn’t matter that Cespedes wants to sign with the Tigers, as the Tigers have shown no indication that they will sign him. The Tigers need his money for pitching.
I can’t help it…..
The Tigers have the 3rd highest payroll in MLB, and all this poster wants them to do is to continue to spend money at a reckless rate. They’re not going to do that. They’re up against the luxury tax – which makes the $20M a year they give a guy – or guys – more like $40M.
“All indications are the he wants to be a Tiger long term, but also wants to be a free agent (similar to Anibal).”
You wrote that about Price for a year here.
I don’t see how flipping Cespedes for Cueto helps the Tigers. It’s really a wash. At best, Cueto will be worth one extra win (or less) if you are subtracting Cespedes.
The Tigers need to find at least 6 extra wins somewhere to have a legitimate shot at one of the two wild cards. Trying to find three 2 win players at the trade deadline is an impossible task. It’s why the Tigers need to be realistic and leverage there assets now and in the offseason to retool and make another run in 2016/17.
The upgrade from Greene to Cueto would be much bigger than the downgrade from Cespedes to Davis.
Strict WAR calcuations are not the answer here. You have to look at the team and what they have. Who is “replacement level” ON THE TEAM.
Cueto/Price/Sanchez can pitch 70%+ of total playoff innings hiding their weakness at the lower end of their pitching staff. Elite pitching is worth a lot more in the playoffs.
I agree with your playoff rotation, but getting there is the issue. The Tigers can’t give up Cespedes’ production and not suffer for it. If they want to go for it, the Tigers must add wins, not subtract them.
If you read the article, you probably would’ve realized the reasons for both teams being interested in him.
Kansas Cit has been mentioned as a hot spot for Cueto for about a month now
KC is still the most likely landing spot for him.. I just don’t see them getting very far in the playoffs with that rotation.. Granted Young has been amazing so far this year but he faded badly last year.. They need Cueto, Price, or another legitimate #1 if they want to return to the series this year.. Maybe, they can get Shields back if San Diego picks up some salary.. Wouldn’t that be a coup for KC? Get their ace back at a discount price, plus also getting the comp pick.. Moore would look like a genius..
Seems like they made the correct decision in letting Shields go. Why would they want him back now? Is NOT an ACE.
He would be on KC.
Maybe because he led them to he 9th inning of the 7th game of the WS last year?
These reporters speculate just as much as we do.. I think some of the people on these boards are actually more informed than the so called “experts”.. I doubt any of them have actual contact with GM’s or their direct staff.. Their sources usually wind up being some low level intern.. In years past before the internet their opinions carried much more weight because even their limited access was more than most fans had.. Personally, I enjoy the speculation on these boards far more than Gammons, Rosenthal, Heyman, or any of the other reporters..
some of it is that, these guy are under pressure to get stories so they can be used/manipulated very easily. teams can use these guys to make it seem like there is more interest in their guy than there really is, while buyers can use it to make it look like they are considering several players instead of the one they really want but don’t want to overpay for.
It’s like politics – the people in charge leak what they want to leak (if they want to leak). In this case it’s the FO’s and agents.
If Bubba Starling was the headliner of the deal (as is commonly being thrown around), then Cueto’s value has fallen further than even I could have imagined.
Cueto’s value hasn’t fallen at all. If anything, the market changed.
The market changed…causing Cueto’s value to fall.
Come on, man.
If anything is performance tonight increased it. Other teams might be like well shit close to being a royal let’s make an offer and grab him
Exactly.. I think you are on to something there.. With his strong performance tonight, which should have calmed the injury questions a bit and KC almost nabbing him might get some of the other AL teams to up their offer.. If the Royals get him and another decent mid rotation starter they are going to be the team to beat in the playoffs..
The Royals will still get him today because Dodgers,Cubs are after Price if comes available or Hamels. Shark or Leake will end a Blue Jay. Shields a Royal or Astros. Kennedy a Yankee or Pirate. Garza,Lohse Ranger or Giant. Harem West Coast team,Latos Cardinals. Ross or Cashner a Nat. Bud Norris Diamondback.
The market did change if you saw what value teams got back in deadline deals last year.
The only rentals that brought back anything were Lester and Miller.. Lester was traded for Cespedes who had one extra year of control and who was a solid player but was not the superstar he is this year.. He slash line was .260/.303/.450 when the trade happened but Beane thought Oakland needed pitching more than a clean up bat.. The O’s had Gausman and Bundy who rated higher as prospects so E-Rod was expendable.. Even though they could have gotten more than Miller for him.. Every other player of high value that was traded had at least one extra year of control.. (Samardzija, Lackey, Price, Prado) McCarthy brought back Vidal Nuno..
What exactly were you expecting the Reds rental to get? Kashmir set the price. At least Starling is a prospect most have heard of. Seems in line to me.
they should get more for Cueto than Oakland got for Kazmir as Cueto is a better pitcher with more of a track record. not necessarily substantially more in return, but more than Kazmir brought back. and the Royals need Cueto or another ace more than Houston needed Kazmir.
I agree. Bubba Starling is better than what Beane got for Kazmir, IMO.
You’re wrong. Nottingham is a borderline top 100 prospect in baseball, according to Kiley McDaniel and Keith who’s value has soared since the season started. Starling is….not.
Lol bubba is a tools guy that has never panned out. He is barely a prospect anymore. More a change of scenery guy that likely wont be the best prospect in any deal hes included in.
Can anyone tell me why Kyle Zimmer was pushed into a relief role this season? Could it have something to do with medicals, and then the Reds saw whatever concerned the Royals and axed the deal?
Hopefully a team like the jays are like damn that was close and start offering us a better deal.
Royals want to limit his innings as he works back, it’s easier to give him 2-3 inning as relief than it would to start him then have someone come in for him. If you look how they used him, it’s 3 days, then 4 days, then 3 days then 4 days. It’s just how they’re building him back up
Please get him Jays!
If the Jays don’t add atleast one pitcher, I really can’t see them being a playoff team. Even a Samardzija-type would do wonders.
The Jays are making fair offers trust me. Oakland got a great prospect for Kazmir. Jays may get someone because they have a great farm system but they can and should be careful with these rentals. There really is not a Wild Card spot open as Twins and Houston get these. Hard to catch five games on the Yankees. See if Jays can get a small win streak going this week . If not they could be 7 games behind Yankees by end of next week. All these .500 teams must be careful.
Yeah, I think you are right. The Jays are much like the Tigers. They need to somehow find 6-8 extra wins than they would have otherwise. If the Blue Jays nabbed David Price and the maybe two extra wins, does it get them to the postseason? I don’t think so.
Like you said, the .500 teams need to be real careful. I think reality is setting in for many of them.
Jays are purported to be scared about his “injury history”. Indeed he has had past injuries, but his two times taking a break between starts this season seem du rigour; just being sore and/or overdoing it . Last year he logged more innings than any other starter and at various points this season he has been the leader in innings.
The injuries in the past came from his twisting delivery which he has completely revamped; but I can still understand the jays concerns.
I’d rather Lake so we don’t lose Norris or Hoffman
Cubs can give Lake in a Price deal. Cueto is still a Royal by end of day.
After watching the Royals up close and personal for a series with the Pirates, if they would have pulled off a deal for Cueto they would have been hands-down the team to beat, IMHO. That squad can do some hitting, and they have some of the best chemistry I’ve ever seen on a MLB team. That means something this time of the year and in October.
Do you think he said “it was really bad how I found out what happen”? –Like: “found out whot hod hoppon?”
–or did he actually say “found out what happened” in proper English?
LOL! LMAO!! ROFLMAO!!!
OMG, dude! That’s a good one!!!!
things like this is whats called gamesmanship…they are all in the war rooms now trying to figure out attack strategies…lol the royals probably initiated the deal threw in a player they already knew was hurt because the reds would have to turn it down, therefore oops look everyone we are the royals and we “want” cueto…but not really …all they tryin to do is get another team whos “in” on cueto to jump right quickly after this to get him so they take a major player out and then go after what they really want…
not likely. you do not even put injured players in trades even in Fantasy baseball. You may get away with it once but your reputation is forever ruined.
There have already been two trades involving injured players, Chris Withrow and Bronson Arroyo, both of whom went to Atlanta in separate trades.
Those were known injuries. By both parties.
Deal is done, apparently…
mobile.twitter.com/ken_rosenthal 3m said Royals get Cueto so domino’s starting to fall.