Johnny Cueto will finally have his reunion with the Cincinnati Reds on the mound against his former team.
Cueto returned to Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati last year for a two-game series after the Reds traded him to the Kansas City Royals. Cueto didn’t pitch in either game.
Now Cueto will take the mound as part of the San Francisco Giants‘ rotation. Cueto is off to a typical Cueto season in his first year with the Giants. He’s sporting a 2.65 ERA in five starts including one shutout.
Cueto signed a six-year, $130-million deal this offseason to join the Giants. The Reds might have been able to match that if not for the team’s signing of Homer Bailey to a six-year, $105-million contract in 2014.
The Reds certainly miss Cueto. Only Clayton Kershaw had a lower ERA among National League starters with at least 600 innings pitched from 2011-2015. Cueto notched a 2.51 ERA in 808 innings during that span.
Cueto’s time with the Reds may have come to an end, but the value of the trade return received for him from the Royals is just beginning. The key major-league ready acquisition for the Reds in the deal was Brandon Finnegan. It is Finnegan who Cueto will face tonight in the series opener with the Giants.
Finnegan has been a bright spot in the Reds’ injury-plagued 2016 rotation. The compact left-hander has made five starts and posted a 3.86 ERA in 28 innings. While not Cueto-like numbers, the results by Finnegan have been solid enough.
The Reds also received John Lamb in the Cueto deal. Lamb’s 2016 season has been delayed by recovery from back surgery. His debut as a starter or reliever is expected soon after his minor league rehab is complete.
The real gauge of the Cueto trade most likely will be lefty power pitching prospect Cody Reed, who is dominating Triple-A hitters so far this year (1.62 ERA in three starts). Reed may make the Reds almost forget about the Cueto Era if he can come anywhere close to the legacy left in Cincinnati by Johnny Beisbol.
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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