Johnny Cueto

White Sox Place Andrew Vaughn On 10-Day IL

By Darragh McDonald | May 5, 2022 at 12:40pm CDT

TODAY: Vaughn was officially sent to the 10-day IL today, with a retroactive May 2 placement. The White Sox called up Danny Mendick to take Vaughn’s spot on the active roster.

MAY 4: The White Sox have been arguably the team most affected by injuries in the first month of the 2022 season, with many of their position players and starting pitchers having missed some time, whether they’ve gone on the injured list or not. These various maladies have dragged them down to an 11-13 start to the season. It appears they’ve taken yet another blow, according to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, with Andrew Vaughn likely headed to the injured list before the team opens a series against Boston on Friday.

Vaughn was hit by a pitch on his hand in a game last week and, despite negative X-rays, hasn’t played since. “It’s kind of progressed, but it’s still aching when I swing, real bad,” Vaughn said. “Like it’s kind of blocking me from swinging because of the pain. I feel it all the time.” Injuries to outfielders Eloy Jimenez, AJ Pollock and Luis Robert had opened up some regular playing time for Vaughn and he answered the call by hitting .283/.367/.566 this year, good enough for a 177 wRC+. Unfortunately, that will all have to be put on hold until he can recuperate.

There is at least some good news for the Pale Hose, however, as Van Schouwen also reports that Yoan Moncada is likely joining the team next week. The third baseman has yet to make his season debut due to an oblique strain. With Moncada out, most of the playing time at the hot corner has been going to Jake Burger, who’s hitting .250/.270/.383. That line amounts to a wRC+ of 91, or 9% below league average. Moncada’s wRC+ for his career is 114 and it was 122 last year, meaning he should provide the lineup a boost as long as he can return and produce at his usual level.

The bullpen also should get a reinforcement soon, with Joe Kelly likely making his debut with the White Sox next week. While with the Dodgers last year, the righty was sidelined with a bicep injury. The Sox signed him in the offseason knowing that he was still working his way back from that issue and likely wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season. Since switching from the rotation to the bullpen, Kelly has emerged as a useful fireballer. From 2017 to 2021, he threw 229 innings with a 3.62 ERA, 24.8% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate.

As for the rotation, Johnny Cueto seems ready suit up for the White Sox as well. Signed to a minor league deal in early April, he’s been gradually building up his arm strength with the Triple-A Charlotte Knights. After a nice bounceback season with the Giants last year where he threw 114 2/3 innings of 4.08 ERA ball, he signed with the White Sox on a deal that will pay him $4.2MM once he’s selected to the big league club. With Lance Lynn on the shelf for a while, a spot in the rotation opened up for Vince Velasquez, who has a 4.58 ERA through four starts, with strikeout and walk rates roughly in line with his career numbers. The weakest link in the rotation so far, however, has been Dallas Keuchel, who has an 8.40 ERA at the moment, along with a measly 9.8% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate. That’s a small sample of just four starts, but it continues a trend that began last year, when the lefty put up a 5.28 ERA and 13.2% strikeout rate. He’s in the last guaranteed year of his three-year, though there is a $20MM club/vesting option for 2023. If Keuchel were to reach 160 innings pitched this year, that would become guaranteed.

White Sox Sign Johnny Cueto To Minor League Deal

By Tim Dierkes | April 5, 2022 at 12:08am CDT

The White Sox have signed veteran righty Johnny Cueto, according to Mike Rodriguez of Univision. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Cueto signed a minor league deal and will earn a prorated $4.2MM in the Majors. According to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, Cueto has a May 15 opt-out. Cueto is represented by Bryce Dixon.

Cueto, 36, provides rotation depth for a White Sox club that recently saw Lance Lynn go under the knife for a slightly torn right knee tendon. Lynn is expected to be out for nearly two months. The club also recently took a couple of hits in the bullpen – a voluntary one with the trade of Craig Kimbrel to the Dodgers, and an unfortunate injury with Garrett Crochet needing Tommy John surgery.

The White Sox will still slot Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, and Dallas Keuchel into their first four rotation spots. The newly-added Cueto will look to ramp up and join a fifth starter mix that already includes Reynaldo Lopez and Vince Velasquez. Cueto has familiarity with White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz, who worked for the Giants from 2019-20, and he’s been training in recent offseasons with Lopez.

After Cueto posted a solid age-24 season back in 2010, then-Reds GM Walt Jocketty had the foresight to lock him up on a four-year, $27MM deal with a club option. That gave Cincinnati two extra years of control, a period during which Cueto blossomed into a Cy Young contender. When free agency did approach, Jocketty shipped Cueto the Royals for their World Series run. The righty capped his brief Royals career with a complete game victory in Game 2 of that World Series.

About a month after the parade, Cueto signed a six-year, $130MM free agent deal with the Giants under Brian Sabean’s regime. Cueto was excellent in his first season for the Giants, but the investment failed to pan out for San Francisco. Cueto’s contract included an opt-out after the second year, which he might have utilized if not for a flexor strain in ’17.

Cueto then developed an elbow sprain in May of 2018, which led to Tommy John surgery in August of that year. He returned to pitch in September of 2019, a surprisingly brief 13-month recovery. Cueto served as the Giants’ Opening Day starter in 2020, taking all of his turns in the shortened season.

In ’21, Cueto missed nearly a month with a lat strain, and then more time late in the season with flexor and elbow strains. His final appearance for the Giants was a September 30th relief outing – the first of his storied 14-year career. Given his limitations, Cueto wasn’t able to crack the Giants’ NLDS roster, and the club made the unavoidable choice to buy out his $22MM club option for $5MM. Still, Cueto tallied 114 2/3 innings for the Giants in 2021, the first time he’d exceeded 63 1/3 in a season since 2017.

Since 2020, Cueto has a 4.55 ERA, 20.1 K%, 7.3 BB%, and 39.1% groundball rate in 178 innings. Even in his heyday, Cueto wasn’t a big strikeout pitcher, and he threw harder in 2021 than he did in his last strong season, back in 2016. Though it’s surprising Cueto wasn’t able to secure a Major League contract, his salary in the bigs will be hefty compared to the typical minor league deal. A couple of other AL Central teams, the Twins and Tigers, at least considered Cueto after the lockout. There’s a good chance the control artist will find himself in Chicago before long as the team attempts to weather Lynn’s injury.

With Opening Day two days away, the free agent market for starting pitching is down to Brett Anderson, Jake Arrieta, Trevor Cahill, Mike Foltynewicz, J.A. Happ, and Matt Harvey.

Free Agent Notes: Correa, Braves, Story, Tigers, Cueto

By Mark Polishuk | March 20, 2022 at 5:57pm CDT

The Braves were somewhat surprisingly connected to Carlos Correa prior to the lockout, and the two sides did re-engage to some extent before Correa signed with the Twins, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Atlanta didn’t make Correa an offer. It was actually agent Scott Boras who reached out to the Braves as he was gauging the market for his client, and Rosenthal writes that Boras “floated” the same three-year, $105.3MM deal with two opt-outs that Correa eventually signed with Minnesota.

While nothing came of these negotiations, Rosenthal does wonder if Correa (assuming he opts out) might be a target for the Braves next winter, as incumbent shortstop Dansby Swanson will be a free agent. Signing Correa to a long-term deal would surely require Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos to make his biggest expenditure yet, though the Braves will have quite a bit of money coming off the books in the form of Swanson, Kenley Jansen, and depending on club options, Charlie Morton and Will Smith.

Twins Interested In Johnny Cueto

By Darragh McDonald | March 12, 2022 at 2:43pm CDT

Prior to the lockout, the busiest segment of the free agent market was starting pitching, with the majority of the top names flying off the shelves before the freeze on transactions in December. The top two remaining starters, Carlos Rodon and Clayton Kershaw, both signed the first full day after the lockout, leaving the top of the market picked clean. Earlier today, the Blue Jays signed Yusei Kikuchi, taking another appealing name off the board.

With many teams still in need of rotation upgrades, they will naturally be turning their attentions to the next tier of available hurlers, with the market for right-hander Johnny Cueto “heating up,” per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The Twins are one of the clubs interested, according to Darren Wolfson of SKOR North.

The Twins made the playoffs in three out of the four seasons from 2017 to 2020, including back-to-back division titles in 2019 and 2020. But they followed that up with a miserable season in 2021 where just about everything went wrong. Various players dealt with serious injuries and many others underperformed, leading the club to drop to a record of 73-89 and finish in the basement of the AL Central. Despite that, the club has made it clear it intends to reload and compete again in 2022, and they showed evidence of that earlier today by acquiring Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Rangers to be their shortstop.

However, the club’s most glaring need is the starting rotation. During last year’s disappointing campaign, they traded away Jose Berrios and J.A. Happ at the deadline. Then they lost Kenta Maeda to Tommy John surgery, who is hoping to be back in September. Also, Michael Pineda reached free agency at the end of the year.

Going into the offseason, the club was left with a rotation of talented but unproven youngsters, with Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan headlining that group. Just before the lockout, they added Dylan Bundy into the mix, though he’s coming off a miserable season of his own, putting up an ERA of 6.06 with the Angels. For a team with designs on competing, they’ll certainly need to look for upgrades.

Cueto is now a few years removed from his peak, but the 36-year-old could still be plenty useful, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored. Cueto threw 114 2/3 innings last year with an ERA of 4.08. His 20% strikeout rate was a few ticks below league average, but his 6.1% walk rate was quite strong. While he may not be the ace he once was, there are no aces left on the free agent market, meaning the Twins will have to be looking towards pitchers like Cueto to cobble a rotation together, unless they have enough trade chips remaining to build a rotation that way.

Johnny Cueto Can Still Help A Rotation

By Steve Adams | February 21, 2022 at 3:20pm CDT

If you were to sit down and make a list of the best pitchers in baseball from 2010-16, you’d be hard-pressed not to include Johnny Cueto in some capacity. The two-time All-Star finished among the top six in National League Cy Young voting three times in that stretch, including a runner-up finish to Clayton Kershaw in 2014. He received at least one down-ballot MVP vote in all three of those seasons as well. From 2010-16, Cueto turned in a 2.86 ERA, a 20.6% strikeout rate (at a time when that number was much more impressive than it is in 2022) and a terrific 6.2% walk rate. Cueto was viewed as a No. 1 or No. 2 starter, and rightly so. He ranked fourth out of 228 qualified starting pitchers in ERA during that time, and his 1294 2/3 innings were the 16th-most in baseball.

Given that context, it’s no surprise that Cueto hit the open market as one of the most in-demand free agents in the game following the 2015 season. He’d struggled a bit following his trade from Cincinnati to Kansas City, but Cueto’s final impression on the Royals was a two-hit, one-run complete game in Game 2 of the World Series, which the Royals won 7-1. Not a bad way to set out into free agency for the first time.

Cueto’s six-year, $132MM contract with the Giants made him the third-highest-paid pitcher of the 2015-16 offseason, trailing only David Price and Zack Greinke’s pair of $200MM+ deals (and beating MLBTR’s expectations by a year in the process). For the first year of his contract, the signing looked quite strong. Cueto hurled 219 2/3 innings of 2.79 ERA ball, made the All-Star team, and enjoyed both Cy Young and MVP votes in his first year with San Francisco. The Giants’ “even-year” dynasty was cut short at three years (2010, 2012, 2014) — but not for any fault of Cueto’s. He made one appearance in the playoffs that winter and took a brutal complete-game loss that saw him allow just one run on three hits and no walks with 10 strikeouts against the eventual-champion Cubs.

Cueto missed a handful of starts in 2017 due to an ongoing blister issue and wasn’t at his best when healthy. His 4.52 ERA that year was his worst since his rookie campaign back in 2008, and it was a particularly poorly-timed slump, as Cueto could’ve opted out of the final four years of his contract and tested the market a second time, had he turned in another healthy season of Cy-caliber results. Ankle and elbow injuries wound up hobbling Cueto in 2018, and by August of that season, he was headed for Tommy John surgery. Cueto returned late in the 2019 season and tossed 16 pedestrian innings, and his work in the shortened 2020 campaign was the worst of his career (5.40 ERA, career-high walk rate).

Expectations for Cueto were light heading into the 2021 season, then, which made his rebound effort with the Giants something of a pleasant surprise. Cueto missed nearly a month with a lat strain and was on the IL for much of September with an elbow strain. The latter of those two injuries is particularly concerning, since we didn’t see much from Cueto after he hit the IL. He made a lone rehab appearance in the minors (1 2/3 innings) and pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief in the Majors on Sept. 30.

It’s not a great note on which to end a season, but Cueto’s 92 mph velocity in that final outing was right in line with what he’d done throughout the season. And, when he was healthy, Cueto was the best version of himself fans and opponents had seen in years. No, this wasn’t Cy Young runner-up Cueto, but it was a very serviceable version of the quirky right-hander, who slotted nicely into the fourth spot in a deep San Francisco rotation.

At 35 years old, Cueto wasn’t the fireballer he was earlier in his career, but his 91.9 mph average fastball velocity was the highest mark he’d posted since that outstanding 2016 campaign. His 6.1% walk rate was also his best mark since that ’16 effort, and Cueto’s 9.7% swinging-strike rate and 31.4% opponents’ chase rate were his best marks since 2017. Cueto’s average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and barrel rate were all better than the league average, and his walk rate was in the 81st percentile of MLB pitchers.

Cueto was much more effective through his first dozen starts of the season (3.63 ERA) than over his final nine appearances (4.72), but perhaps some late fatigue was to be expected. His first “full” season back from Tommy John surgery, after all, was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. The 2021 season was the first time since 2017 that Cueto had started the season healthy in April and was still trying to pitch into August and September.

The end result of Cueto’s 2021 campaign was a respectable 4.08 ERA and peripherals that largely backed him up (4.05 FIP, 4.27 xFIP, 4.43 SIERA). It’s not necessarily a dominant profile, and projection systems are down on him by virtue of factoring in his ugly 2019-20 results in the wake of Tommy John surgery. ZiPS has him at 92 innings of 4.43 ERA ball. Steamer is more bullish in workload (144 innings) but much more bearish in results (5.05 ERA). You’re forgiven if you are not overly optimistic for Cueto’s outlook in 2022 and beyond. The past few years, taken as a whole, have not been great.

A team that’s more focused on Cueto’s 2021 characteristics — the increase in velocity over 2018-20, the upticks in swinging strikes and chases — might see things differently, however. Cueto shouldn’t be penciled in for a return to his halcyon days of 200-plus innings and 33 starts, but he did make all 12 of his starts in 2020 and was more healthy in 2021 than he’s been since undergoing Tommy John surgery. He’s not the complete-game threat and workhorse he once was, but Cueto averaged 5 1/3 innings per start in ’21 and had been averaging about 5 2/3 per outing up until the All-Star break. It’s not out of the question that he could bounce back a bit further and make 24 to 25 starts with average or better results. At his per-start output, that clocks in somewhere in the range of 130 to 140 innings.

Maybe 135 innings of low-4.00s ERA doesn’t jump up and excite fans, but for the right team, that’s plenty valuable. The prevailing, but often incorrect, mentality is that every team possesses some guys in Triple-A who could come up and fill that role. However, there were only 89 pitchers in MLB last season who pitched at least 80 innings and posted an ERA under 4.25 — about three per team, on average. Bulk sources of respectable innings don’t necessarily grow on trees.

Clubs that already have solid options in the top four spots of their rotation could look to Cueto as a fairly affordable means of rounding things out. The Mets, Mariners, Blue Jays, Braves, Cubs and the incumbent Giants all fit that billing to varying extents. A team in need of filling out multiple rotation spots (e.g. Twins, Nationals, Rangers) might look for a bit more reliability, but perhaps even they’d see some merit in installing Cueto as a steadying presence while awaiting the arrival of some younger arms.

Regardless of Cueto’s eventual destination, it’s a bit surprising that he’s become something of a forgotten man this time around in free agency. There’s been nary a word about his market since the Giants opted for a $5MM buyout over a $22MM club option for the 2022 season. At a net $17MM, that option was never getting picked up, but Cueto had a decent rebound campaign in ’21 and probably ought to be getting a little more consideration as fans, pundits and teams alike consider the post-lockout market. He might not command more than a one-year deal, and that comes with serious bargain potential — relative to other names who’ve signed thus far, anyway.

Corey Kluber got $8MM from the Rays, and Cueto pitched as much in 2021 as Kluber has over the past three years combined. Jordan Lyles received a $7MM guarantee from the Orioles despite leading the Majors with 38 homers allowed last year and leading the Majors in earned runs allowed since 2020. Andrew Heaney got $8.5MM from the Dodgers. The Red Sox gave $7MM to Michael Wacha. This isn’t to disparage any of those deals individually. The teams paying those salaries are paying for varying levels of perceived upside, relative youth and/or bulk innings. However, it’s hard to see those figures and think Cueto won’t command something similar, if not better. And if he does clock in south of that range due to concerns over the late elbow issue, he has some significant bargain potential.

It seems silly to call a multi-time All-Star and former Cy Young candidate who just finished up a nine-figure deal “overlooked,” but Cueto hasn’t gotten much attention even in terms of pure free-agent speculation, despite the fact that he just turned in a pretty decent season overall.

Giants Exercise Club Options On Wilmer Flores, Jose Alvarez, Jay Jackson

By Mark Polishuk | November 7, 2021 at 4:32pm CDT

The Giants officially announced decisions on their club options today, exercising their rights to retain infielder Wilmer Flores, left-hander Jose Alvarez, and right-hander Jay Jackson for the 2022 season. As was previously reported, San Francisco officially declined their $22MM club option on Johnny Cueto, and will instead pay Cueto $5MM in buyout money. Additionally, right-hander Yunior Marte’s contract was selected to the Giants’ 40-man roster.

There wasn’t much surprise with any of these option decisions except for possibly Jackson, just because it wasn’t publicly known that the veteran reliever’s contract contained any sort of option. The Giants signed the veteran reliever to a minor league deal this past winter, and Jackson posted a 3.74 ERA and a strong 31.1% strikeout rate over 21 2/3 IP in the big leagues, though he was also hampered by a below-average 13.3% walk rate. Jackson has tossed 56 1/3 innings with the Padres, Brewers, and Giants over parts of three MLB seasons, but he had more success pitching in parts of four seasons with Nippon Professional Baseball.

Flores inked a two-year, $6.25MM free agent deal with San Francisco in February 2020, and he’ll now return for a third season and earn $3.5MM. (The Giants had a $3.25MM decision to make, as Flores was owed $250K in a buyout if the option had been declined.) Flores has hit .264/.328/.470 with 30 home runs over 649 PA in a Giants uniform, and has seen action as a part-time first, second, and third baseman, making him both a versatile platoon piece and a big weapon against left-handed pitching.

Alvarez signed with the Giants last winter, earning $1.05MM in salary last season and now another $1.5MM in 2022 via his exercised club option. Despite several solid years as a member of the Angels and Phillies bullpens, Alvarez’s market was hurt by his lack of action in 2020, as a groin injury limited him to only 6 1/3 frames over eight appearances with Philadelphia.

He bounced back in a major way with the Giants, posting a 2.37 ERA over 64 2/3 innings. Never a particularly big strikeout pitcher, Alvarez’s strikeout rate dropped to a career-low 15.8% last season, yet he still kept batters at bay by inducing a lot of grounders (50.5% groundball rate) and a lot of soft contact.

Giants To Decline Johnny Cueto’s Option

By Anthony Franco | November 5, 2021 at 4:26pm CDT

As expected, the Giants have declined their $22MM club option for next season on right-hander Johnny Cueto, tweets Jon Heyman of the MLB Network. The veteran hurler will instead receive a $5MM buyout and hit the open market.

The call on the option has long been a mere formality, as Cueto has settled in as a back-of-the-rotation arm over his past couple seasons. The two-time All-Star missed most of the 2018-19 campaigns on account of an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. He had a couple of minor injured list stints this year but has generally been a capable innings eater over the past two seasons.

Since the start of 2020, Cueto has tossed 178 innings with a 4.55 ERA/4.26 FIP. The 35-year-old has a better than average 7.3% walk percentage in that time, but he’s only fanned 20.1% of opponents. Cueto doesn’t throw as hard or induce as many whiffs as he did during his peak days with the Reds, but he’s a capable strike-thrower who could upgrade the fourth or fifth rotation spot on a number of teams around the league.

Cueto shouldn’t have any problem landing a major league contract, but that deal doesn’t figure to come particularly close to the net $17MM call the Giants’ front office was left to make. It wouldn’t be shocking if San Francisco themselves remains in the market, as the Giants are also facing the potential free agent departures of Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood. They’ll need to overhaul their rotation this winter, which president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has already called the club’s “number one priority.”

Farhan Zaidi Addresses Giants’ Rotation, Posey, Belt

By James Hicks | October 18, 2021 at 5:49pm CDT

This morning, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi addressed the club’s priorities ahead of what’s sure to be a busy offseason (via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area and Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic). Zaidi made clear the team regards its starting rotation as its “number one priority.” The Giants’ president also effectively confirmed they intend to bring back Buster Posey (by at least exercising his $22MM club option) and hope to re-sign Brandon Belt for what would be his twelfth season in San Francisco.

That the Giants intend to focus their offseason attention on addressing their needs in the rotation comes as no surprise. Presuming they pay Johnny Cueto’s $5MM buyout rather than pick up his $22MM option, four of the five members of a group that led the club to a 3.44 rotation ERA (Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, and Cueto) are set to hit free agency. Only breakout star Logan Webb, who won’t reach free agency until at least 2026, remains under team control.

Zaidi made clear he hopes to bring back at least some of this year’s rotation, stating that “we want to keep as much of this group together as we can,” but he’ll face stiff competition for several of the arms in question. Gausman figures to be among the top starters on the market (alongside Max Scherzer, Robbie Ray, and Marcus Stroman) and won’t be eligible for the qualifying offer that might have scared off some suitors after he accepted the Giants’ QO last winter. DeSclafani (who made $6MM in 2021) and Wood ($3MM) are each in line to land much bigger salaries moving forward after each posted a bounceback year in his first season in the Golden City.

Zaidi’s confirmation that the club plans to keep Posey in the mix for 2022 is similarly unsurprising after the longtime Giants backstop put up a .304/.390/.499 line in 2021 after sitting out the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The club’s intention to either pick up Posey’s 2022 option or sign him to an extension had also already been reported in August by MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, but Zaidi’s comments reiterate the commitment of Giants’ brass to their franchise catcher. Still, as Posey will be entering his age-35 season, any extension is likely to be on the shorter side, perhaps similar to the two-year pact reached with shortstop Brandon Crawford in June.

Belt put up a similarly excellent .274/.378/.597 line in 2021 (albeit in only 381 plate appearances), so the club will likely face some competition in re-signing the first baseman from two of its three 2010’s title teams. Zaidi told reporters today he’d already been in dialogue with Belt’s representation before the season’s end and they still hope to re-sign him.

After a 107-win season that ended in heartbreaking fashion, the Giants’ desire to run it back with a similar squad is certainly understandable. The Giants have largely bucked the youth wave sweeping the game, and whether or not manager Gabe Kapler can deliver the mix-and-match lineup magic of 2021 for another year remains to be seen. Crucially, so does their ability to bring back the bulk of a rotation that put them in position to lead the big leagues in wins.

Brandon Belt, Johnny Cueto Not On Giants’ NLDS Roster

By Steve Adams | October 8, 2021 at 12:52pm CDT

The Giants announced their National League Division Series roster this morning, with first baseman Brandon Belt and right-hander Johnny Cueto representing the most notable omissions. Belt’s absence was entirely expected, as he sustained a fracture in his thumb less than two weeks ago — an injury that initially came with a roughly four-week recovery period. He’s hoping to be able to return if the Giants advance to the NLCS, though there’s no certainty he’ll be able to do so. Cueto’s omission is not injury-related, but he wasn’t slated to make a start in a best-of-five series so the Giants will instead opt for 14 position players and 12 pitchers.

Here’s the roster they’ll carry into their date with their archrival Dodgers…

Right-Handed Pitchers

Kervin Castro
Anthony DeSclafani
Camilo Doval
Kevin Gausman (Game 2 starter)
Dominic Leone
Zack Littell
Tyler Rogers
Logan Webb (Game 1 starter)

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Curt Casali
Buster Posey

Infielders

Outfielders

There’s no sugar-coating what a tough loss it is for the Giants to be without Belt, who has not only enjoyed a resurgence but has produced at previously unforeseen levels during his age-33 and age-34 seasons. Dating back to Opening Day 2020, Belt has been the third-best hitter in all of baseball, by measure of wRC+ (163), trailing only Juan Soto and Bryce Harper in that time (min. 500 plate appearances). In his past 560 trips to the plate, Belt has turned in an outrageous .285/.393/.595 batting line and connected on 38 home runs and 27 doubles. Each of Flores, Ruf and Wade has seen time at first base for the Giants this season, and Bryant is certainly capable of slotting in at the position as well.

It’s possible that Cueto could be added back to the NLCS roster — a best-of-seven set that could include games on three consecutive days and thus increase the importance of adding some length to the pitching staff. While it hasn’t been one of Cueto’s best seasons, the 35-year-old posted solid results in 22 appearances (21 of them starts). The two-time All-Star and former Cy Young runner-up tallied 114 2/3 innings of 4.08 ERA ball with an even 20 percent strikeout rate and a very strong 6.1 percent walk rate. He’s in the final season of a six-year, $130MM contract that contains a $22MM club option with a $5MM buyout.

Giants Designate Jose Quintana For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | September 30, 2021 at 6:02pm CDT

The Giants announced they’ve reinstated first baseman Darin Ruf and right-hander Johnny Cueto from the injured list before this evening’s game against the Diamondbacks. In corresponding moves, left-hander Tony Watson landed on the 10-day injured list due to a strain in his throwing shoulder, while fellow southpaw José Quintana was designated for assignment.

The transactions series likely ends Quintana’s time in San Francisco after just a few weeks. The Giants claimed Quintana off waivers from the Angels at the end of August, absorbing the approximate $1.5MM remaining on his contract to add him just before the deadline for players to be eligible for teams’ postseason rosters.

Picking up Quintana didn’t work out quite as planned. He made five relief appearances with San Francisco, working 9 2/3 innings of five-run ball. The 32-year-old punched out twelve batters in that limited time, but also issued six walks and was tagged for three home runs. Evidently, the front office determined they were content with their other lefty bullpen options — even as Watson lands on the IL — to let Quintana go before the start of the postseason.

Quintana will almost certainly wind up hitting free agency in the next couple days, either via release or rejection of an outright assignment. He’ll hit the open market coming off a disappointing season. Signed by Los Angeles to a one-year, $8MM deal in free agency, he was bumped from the rotation after posting a 7.22 ERA through his first nine starts. He didn’t find much more success in relief, posting a 5.52 ERA from that point forward between the Angels and Giants.

It was an atypical season for Quintana, who has offered quality production over the course of his career. He was quietly one of the game’s better starters for a few seasons with the White Sox, leading to a blockbuster crosstown deal that sent him to the Cubs in 2017. That trade — which sent Eloy Jiménez and Dylan Cease to the South Siders — quickly proved regrettable for the Cubs, but Quintana did at least offer consistent innings and useful production for much of his time in Wrigleyville.

He lost most of last season due to injury, though, and his 6.43 ERA this year is by far the highest of his career. That’s been driven by personal-worst walk and home run rates, but Quintana has curiously been better than ever before at missing bats. He’s punched out 28.6% of opposing hitters on the strength of an 11.9% swinging strike rate; both marks are career-highs and above the league average. That extreme production came into play even before Quintana was moved to the pen, as he’d fanned 30.1% of batters faced over his first nine starts.

With Quintana and Watson out of the picture, the Giants look likely to enter the playoffs with Jarlin García and José Álvarez as lefty relief options. Manager Gabe Kapler didn’t rule Watson out for the entire postseason when speaking with reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area), but it at least seems he’d miss the Division Series if the club advanced to that point. Acquired from the Angels at the trade deadline, Waston has posted a 2.96 ERA over 24 1/3 frames with San Francisco.

Ruf looks likely to assume the bulk of the playing time at first base moving forward. Brandon Belt fractured his left thumb after being hit by a pitch over the weekend, and that injury could cost him most or all of the team’s playoffs. Like so much of the roster, Ruf has excelled when given the opportunity this year. Through 300 plate appearances, he owns a .268/.387/.512 line with fifteen home runs. Belt’s injury could force the Giants to deploy Ruf more against right-handed pitching than they have so far, but he’s more than held his own in limited action against righties while absolutely mashing southpaws.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Johnny Cueto

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect