Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto missed two-plus months earlier this season on account of a a sprained pitching elbow. Now, less than a month after his return from the disabled list, Cueto may be headed back to the shelf. After making his fourth straight subpar start on Saturday, when he allowed four earned runs in as many innings in a loss to Milwaukee, the 32-year-old told Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area and other reporters that his elbow issues haven’t subsided. “I keep telling you guys and keep telling myself I’m fine, but in reality I’m not,” said Cueto, who will meet with doctors Sunday, per Pavlovic.
In the early stages of his DL stint in the spring, Cueto feared he’d require Tommy John surgery. That wasn’t the case then, but it’s now unclear whether he’ll continue to be able to avoid the procedure. Needless to say, elbow surgery would be a disastrous outcome for Cueto and the Giants, who signed him to a six-year, $130MM guarantee entering 2016. Cueto then racked up his third straight 200-inning season in the first year of the deal, during which he posted a 2.79 ERA across 219 2/3 frames, though injuries have beset him since then. He only tossed 147 1/3 innings of 4.52 ERA ball in 2017, and while Cueto has been much better at preventing runs this season (3.23 ERA), he has totaled just 53 frames and registered his highest FIP (4.71) since his rookie year in 2008.
More from the National League…
- Padres relievers Craig Stammen and Kirby Yates have drawn attention from Red Sox scouts, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports. Boston’s among many teams eyeing Stammen and Yates, it seems, as Dennis Lin of The Athletic (subscription required) relays that interest in the two pitchers is “significant.” That’s to be expected, as both Stammen and Yates have been tremendous this year and come with affordable team control. Stammen’s in the first season of a two-year, $4.5MM contract, while Yates is making a bit over $1.06MM and still has a couple of arbitration trips remaining. Trading one or both of them would continue a major bullpen makeover for the Padres, who sent relievers Brad Hand and Adam Cimber to the Indians for catcher prospect Francisco Mejia earlier this month.
- Unsurprisingly, the rebuilding Marlins have made pending free-agent outfielder Cameron Maybin available for trade, according to George A. King III of the New York Post. Whether teams are interested in Maybin isn’t clear, but he has been useful for the Marlins this season after signing for $3.25MM during the winter. The 31-year-old has taken 284 plate appearances in 2018 and batted .250/.338/.339 with three home runs and eight stolen bases (though he has also been caught five times). Defensively, Maybin has seen time at all three outfield spots and shined overall, having recorded eight Defensive Runs Saved, a 4.7 Ultimate Zone Rating and five Outs Above Average.
- The Dodgers plan to use left-hander Julio Urias as a relief weapon when he returns in the coming weeks, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets. In the meantime, the 21-year-old Urias is continuing to work back from June 2017 shoulder surgery, and the Dodgers “have no idea” what they’ll get from him when he rejoins them, McCullough writes. Before undergoing that serious procedure, Urias had been among the game’s highest-regarded young hurlers, particularly in 2016 – a 77-inning debut in which he pitched to a 3.39 ERA/3.16 FIP with 9.82 K/9 against 3.62 BB/9 over 18 appearances and 15 starts.
Please…Please….Please Dodgers don’t just rely on a young pitcher who HASN’T PITCHED in a game in OVER A YEAR to solve your bullpen issues!!!!
I’m sure they will probably make one more move for someone like Conley or Yates, regardless of Urias’ return.
Although, with that being said, Urias very well could be a huge weapon for the Dodgers coming out of their pen.
He was already a SP that had no issues striking out batters, but if he’s only going to be pitching for an inning or so at a time, he will be able to have his arsenal play up even more!!
Urias will be able to add a little velocity on his FB, when he wants and needs to, and he will not have to worry about saving his stamina for a longer outing. Also, he won’t have to worry about forcing in and showing hitters whichever pitches that aren’t working for him that day, and of course he will not have to worry about holding back certain pitches, because he will likely only be facing each hitter once. He’ll also be able to work with whichever of his pitches are coming out of his hand the best, and what he’s comfortable with throwing that day, and that should definitely help him ease his way back, and having Urias mentally and physically comfortable on the mound, will be pivotal for his success moving forward, especially since he is coming back from surgery…
This is the most optimistic scenario but it should be apparent that the Dodgers aren’t necessarily invested in it working out. If they do manage to trade for a starter then Stripling likely is moved to the pen.
Amen!!
Ryu coming back?
No recent reports.
He pitched 2 innings of live BP yesterday at Camelback ranch, should be starting a rehab assignment soon, somewhere around 4 rehab starts is what has been reported.
Where did you hear this? Nothing reported in the LA Times and they usually get all of that.
twitter.com/blackwings2011/status/1022495453332484…
The four rehab starts was from an interview with Roberts earlier in the week.
rotoworld.com/recent/mlb/7271/hyun-jin-ryu
Thanks, I missed that. A positive development.
BTW, the story on Urias coming back as a reliever reported here as a tweet was the subject of a piece by Andy McCullough in the LA Times two days ago.
latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-report-20…
Ryu pitched?
Another great FA signing by the SF brain trust (Evans/Sabean). Zito, Samardzija, Melancon, Cueto and I’m sure I missing another. Let’s focus on pitchers over 30 and sign them long term. Bartolo Colon will be available this offseason maybe 2-3 year deal? At least he can take the ball every 5th day. Time to burn it down, make EVERYONE available, and rebuild. Stop holding on to the World Series Roster from years past. It’s over Johnny! This team is old across the board. Posey, Crawford, Belt, Bumgarner, all great players but its time to move on and replenish their terrible minor league system. Maybe free up some $ for next offseason and invest in a young bat or 2.
Yes, let’s sign Bartolo until he’s 48. That’ll work.
Are you unsure of how free-agency works? If you exclude pitchers over 30 you will have a minuscule amount of choices. Of the 16 SPs in MLBTR’s top 50 FA list only 2. Tanaka (-1, who never really reached the open market), and Chatwood (-2), was younger than Cueto was when he signed. Every team has signed FA pitchers over the age of 30, so why single out the Giants for criticism for doing what all teams do? Plus Cueto, who was still 29 when he signed, was outstanding in his first season. And there are no young bats, or 2, that more money would allow them to acquire. Just like pitchers, there are very few young hitters available in free-agency.
This isn’t football. Sorry, but you are sorely misguided if you think 30 – 31 is old, and in the case Bumgarner, the guy is only 28.
Maybe it is time to sell and start a rebuild, but it’s injuries that have wrecked the 2018 season, not the FO. They have had far more than their share of injuries. So far this season they still have not once been able to field the starting 8 with the rotation they had planned for the season. If you’re going to criticize any team, at least acquire an understanding of how the system works, and exactly what teams are able, or unable, to do.
So who is to blame for this old, overpaid, roster if not the front office? 30-31 isn’t old, but 30-31+ a 5 year contract= a 35-36 year old overpaid player. I know how free agency works, I’m not sure the Giants do however. This team is loaded with one bad contract after the next. Dude, don’t be surprised when a roster loaded with 30-something’s has a load of injuries! Who paid Samardzija (a sub .500 career pitcher) 90M? Who paid Hunter Pence, a player who’s never hit 30HR in a season and driven in 100runs just once in his entire career 5yrs 90M? Johnny Cueto had a player option after year 2 of his contract to fully guarantee 130M! Why not a mutual option? Who is trading away prospects to Texas so they can dump Austin Jackson’s contract? They will soon be give Bumgarner $150-200M as well. This teams minor league system is one of the worst in baseball, I didn’t draft these players. The W.S. teams of yesteryear were anchored by homegrown talent, with a few bargain FA. These clowns have lost their way and are now throwing $ at 30-somethings hoping for one last run. It ain’t happening, and it’s going to be a long painful rebuild. Sorry if I offended you Brian Sabean Jr.
Jimmy J. If you think Pence’s contract was crazy you obviously aren’t paying attention to how baseball was up to this last off season. And Pence had a history of all star level production, and health. You also seem to be ignoring the leadership that is brought to a team.
There is no defending Samardzija’s contract, he was a terrible signing, and one I had hoped they would not make. I really think the FO was expecting Cueto to opt out, unfortunately I think he hurt his elbow last year and pitched that way most of the season and this year it just became unbearable. He more than likely needs TJ surgery, and the sooner he gets it the sooner they get something in return for his last year of his contract.
The Jackson, Gearrin trade was ridiculous, they rraded away one of the few pitchers in their system that has ML starting potential. However that being said, the system is farm from weak, they have a lot of young talent, it just happens most are two or three years away, and the majority of that is on offense.
Jimmy Johnson’s Ghost
You are like so many others that find it easy to criticize without taking all factors into account. Who’s fault is it? Like most issues there isn’t one easy answer, but the unprecedented string of injuries is a big part. And dude, if you want people to take you seriously don’t use broad generalities. Be specific about who is 30-31 and is under contract for 5 years. By my accounting only Posey and Cueto are under contract until they’re 35, and Longoria, is the only guy signed until he’s 36.
But you seem to have a real misunderstanding about how, not only the Giants, but most teams work. They all realize the back end is going to be bad. They are paying for the production in the first 2/3’s of the contract and eating the back end. They’re willing to do that because the alternative is not being able to sign anyone. Any FA is going to sign with a different team willing to do that.
The draft is a crap shoot. No one is guaranteed to develop into an mlb player. All teams have highs and lows in their success of developing players.
And finally, as to your final point, if we want the level of discourse here to remain high, let’s refrain from the childish insults.
Samardzija, Posey, Cueto, Melancon, and Pence all under contract until age 35 or later. 3 of the 5 FA signings. You are missing my point all together. The Giants Championship Teams were comprised of mostly homegrown talent (Lincecum, Cain, Wilson, Sandoval, Vogelsong, Posey, Crawford, Bumgarner) sprinkled in with some lower end FA (Cody Ross, Aubrey Huff). The current front office is chasing its tail with FA. Dynasties aren’t built through free agency, they’re built through the draft. Look at what Houston did last season, a young team with mostly homegrown talent added Verlander at the deadline. Are they spending heavy in free agency? Look at the Cubs, Red Sox, Braves nucleus, all built through the draft. Free Agency is fools gold and watching these 30 somethings limping their way between the roster and the DL while trying to sell the fan base on the pipe-dream of a WS is a joke. The FO has (for the most part) blown the draft and International Signing Period for the last 5-6 years or longer and because of the lack of elite talent at the minor league level has gone the FA/veteran route. The demise of this team will be slow and fruitless because instead of trading older players with value they want to sell the dream, fill the park and line their pockets, and the sad thing is 90% of the fan base is following these guys right off the cliff.
Tab, you are 100% correct on that assessment. Bumgarner is still young, unfortunately when he come up for his FA years he will be just going into his 30 year old season the next year so that becomes a: do you sign him long (5 year) deal or see if he’ll do 3 years at more per season.
But yes the way baseball contracts work most players don’t hit the market until they are at least 28 or older, that is why the Machado and Harper free agency is drawing such a big amount of publicity.
Bum signed that contract early on in his career and did that essentially as a safety net in case something happened. Some guys bet on themselves, don’t sign those early contracts and it fails, and some guys it works out. But as you said, you don’t often get 26 or 27 year old stars hitting the market, it usually will be a role player.
sorry to say but Buster is not the old Buster; no power left and average sinking like a rock
Johnny Cueto needs to lose about 40 pounds. He wasn’t nearly this fat when the Giants signed him.
If it was a leg issue his size might be a factor. I doubt it affects his elbow at all.
Please trade Yates, Stammen, Renfroe, Jankowski, and whomever else tickles your fancy Preller, just don’t trade Urias or Mejia for Archer.
It’s has to be Yates, Stammen and Ross for Chavis and Groome right? I can’t see anything else that makes sense. Devers is on the DL now and will be until after the break, so even though he has been rumored to SD before, can’t see him happening. Maybe the Padres reach past Chavis and grab Dalbec plus Hernandez with Groome.
If I were a Padre fan I wouldn’t want anything to do with that Archer trade, he is another hyped up player based on potential, he has a high strikeout rate, but also allows a large amount of hits. He’s going to turn 30 in Sept, and his ERA (I know some of you hate ERA I dont care I believe it tells you the overall idea of what you nees to know about a pitcher), anyway his ERA has risen every year over the last 4 seasons.
Chavis is rated higher on the Sox prospect list. Both Dalbec and Chavis have lead the Sox MiL in HR’s the last two years. Dalbec hopefully will be moved to AA Portland from A+ Salem very soon.
Devers, Chavis and Dalbec are all very young 3 B’s. Today, with Devers on the DL, Swihart is playing a solid 3 B.
The pen may be less than stellar but has been beefed up by Ryan Brasier who has allowed only 1 ER in 9 appearances . Hembree has been good, Barnes OK , and Kimbrel fine when limited to 1 inning. Johnson, Velasquez and Pomerantz will buoy down the stretch.
Kelly had a good inning last night.
Who knows about a reliever from the NL facing a stretch drive and AL playoffs with a new team and an unforgiving fanbase in Boston.
Totally forgot about Tyler Thornburg has been unhittable his last 3 outings:
2.1 Inn–0 R–0 H-0 BB–3 K’s.
Eovaldi had a good outing today as did Happ. They could be matched up in Boston next weekend.
With devers out attaching Yates or stammen with either sangberg asuaje villanueva could make sense
Maybe this will be their way of trying to refill the farm if/when they make that ridiculous Archer trade.
Hating on a trade before knowing who is involved? Impressive sir
If you have been paying attention, you would know the certain prospects that are likely to be involved. You would also know that many Padres fans do not like the idea of trading for Archer at all.
I pay plenty of attention. I notice you cry about many of Preller moves. Now you start judging trades before you know the players involved. He’s built the number 1 farm in baseball bud. He has too many good prospects that he can’t expose to rule 5 next year and just lose. The Pads system is incredibly deep. Preller has the chips to buy some young controllable arms and will still have plenty of arms coming through his number 1 farm. . Tatis, Gore, Urias, Baez aren’t getting dealt for Archer. He’s found other people’s scraps and turned them into top notch prospects. Yates, Stammen and Hand will net the Padres a nice pool of talent and they have young arms like Maton, Stock, Castillo, Wingeter, Strahm to take over in their roles. To be a Padres fan is to sulk, I get it, but we are about to be really freaking good.
Well said sir
The only thing I have disliked is their targeting of Archer in a trade. I’m not the only Padres fan who thinks this. Just look on the other articles from this site. I do not constantly “cry” about Preller’s moves. Maybe you have me confused for someone else? Padreforlife perhaps? I think it’s brilliant that he has turned around the farm system in the past few years, and I have defended this viewpoint multiple times before from all the Preller haters (like that padreforlife guy). I merely am displeased that they would be willing to give up significant pieces from the farm just to get this guy when they should rather hang on to some of these guys and see what they being to the table first before making a move like this.
Again, I’m not a Preller hater, I’m far from it. And if you’ve really been paying attention, you would know this about me from the posts i’ve made in the past on this site.
Sir.
Giants need to sell. I’d rather the team be bad for a couple years and be good for the next decade than be mediocre to bad for the foreseeable future