3:17pm: ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that the two sides are making progress on a deal and could have an agreement in place soon (Twitter link).
2:34pm: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports that the Giants and Cueto are discussing a deal that “easily” tops the $120MM figure he rejected from Arizona. The Dodgers and “a couple others” are still in the mix, but the Giants are working the hardest to get something done. The deal being discussed with San Francisco (and others) will “likely” contain an opt-out clause, Heyman adds.
1:48pm: The Cardinals and Dodgers have both “dabbled” in Cueto’s market, tweets Crasnick, but both teams were hesitant to even approach the reported $120-126MM that Cueto rejected, let alone exceed it.
1:24pm: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that action on Cueto does indeed seem to be picking up (links to Twitter). One source that spoke to Crasnick and knows Cueto’s market well feels that the right-hander could ultimately top the $120-126MM offer he rejected from the D-backs.
12:46pm: The Giants are making a “strong push” for right-hander Johnny Cueto, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link).
San Francisco, of course, was a finalist for the services of Zack Greinke but lost out to a stunning last-minute push by the division-rival Diamondbacks. Since that time, they’ve added Jeff Samardzija on a five-year, $90MM contract, but they’ve reportedly been open to bringing in another starter in addition to that signing. Cueto has already rejected a six-year offer from the D-backs that was reported to be worth $120-126MM in total, which should serve as a barometer of sorts when gauging the type of money it will take to sign him. Of course, it’s not certain that Cueto will sign for more than that figure — his market may have some down a bit, he may simply not have wanted to play with the D-backs, etc. — but it’d be a surprise to see him take substantially less just two weeks after that reported offer.
Cueto, 30 in February, posted a combined 3.44 ERA in 212 innings with the Reds and Royals this past season. His late struggles with Kansas City are well known at this point, as he recorded a 6.49 ERA over his final 51 1/3 innings on his new club. Cueto had mixed results in the playoffs, struggling in two starts but also delivering a pair of masterpieces, including a one-run, complete game victory over the Mets in Game Two of the World Series.
Cueto missed a small amount of time over the summer with a minor elbow injury that never sent him to the disabled list. Regardless, the earlier injury and rocky performance with the Royals has created a fair amount of skepticism surrounding him this offseason, at least in the media. Clearly, with at least one club willing to offer a significant six-year contract, teams aren’t completely scared off by any uncertainties that may exist regarding his right elbow.
I like that. He turns down an offer and it sets the bar. Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps he’s not going to get another offer because GM’s think he wants too much. Teams can wait him out.
“Perhaps he’s not going to get another offer because GM’s think he wants too much. Teams can wait him out.”
I don’t get it- if he’s not going to get another offer then how would they be waiting him out? They’re going to wait him out until he decides to retire for lack of offers or goes to Japan to play? What on earth does this mean? How can you wait someone out without making an offer?
^You must be new to baseball.
Cueto is only 30 yrs old? Yeah….right! Dude looks 35 to me. He’s got good numbers in last 5 years but my gut tells me he’s going to decline fast.
6 yes 130 mil
No, no, no, no please Giants, no! That will turn out to be a disaster.
I agree. Should be working on signing Leake instead.
Idiots who think Leake is a better investment baffle me. Dude was so mediocre as a Giant, Cueto has been a stud for years. He has one not so graet half in Kansas City and people are freaking out. He’d be amazing in AT&T park.
Leake is actually not good. He should go hide in SD as long as he can. I actually like his bat the most about him, haha
Leake is league average and incredibly consistent and durable. When league average production is combined with that, it has some value. If you can have a league average pitcher in the 4 spot on your rotation, this probably means you have a really good rotation. Sorry to tell you, but baseball only has so many Kershaws and Bumgarners
BBIINNGGOOO
There is a great article from Fangraphs about Mike Leake that was written last week:
fangraphs.com/blogs/the-upcoming-mike-leake-mistak…
“Leake was mediocre as a Giant”
“Cueto had one bad half, hes still good”
way to contradict yourself.
Leake put up solid results in the 2nd hardest park to pitch in in the NL, Cueto too.
Idiots who don’t know that Leake was injured while with SF last year baffle me.
Why? Cueto’s basically the same pitcher, career-wise, as Zack Greinke. Had a much worse year last year, but that’s just recency-bias. And Cueto’s quite a bit younger.
wow.. comparing Cueto to Greinke? lol i suggest you follow another sport!
Since 2011:
Greinke: 2.82 ERA, 133 ERA+, 1.094 WHIP, 3.00 FIP
Cueto: 2.71 ERA, 145 ERA+, 1.082 WHIP, 3.41 FIP
—
Greinke would seem like the better pitcher because of his 2015 numbers, but in reality, it’s a lot closer than one would think.
Not to mention, Cueto was pitching very weel before being traded to KC. Below are his numbers while with Cincy this past year;
2.62 ERA, 151 ERA+, 0.934 WHIP, 3.20 FIP
Some pitchers, do have problems when switching leagues. Maybe he would have had more success in KC if he was traded there during the offseason and had time to adjust to the league and so fourth. Who knows. However his numbers state he is dominant against the National League.
Might want to check the stats before flaming people, dude. In fact, Cueto’s arguably more valuable due to being younger. You can figure in possible injury risk any way you want and make Cueto a little less desirable, but it ain’t much no matter how you do it.
You should probably follow baseball if you’re going to try and create conflict. Until a shaky showing in KC, Cueto’s been right up there with Greinke as one of the top pitchers in the league!
You still alive? mrnate went full fatality on you.
wow get rekt m8.
I’m not sure ‘”recency” is a bias . Bad performances, especially for pitchers, can sometimes be an indication of something wrong physically. He was a bit more inconsistent at times than Greinke, although overall he did an excellent job. There are just more question marks about his long-term health and performance than Greinke, because Greinke has been consistently elite in the last few years.
Let’s go back in time to 2010, 2011 or 2012, shall we? When Greinke was barely an above average pitcher. Game can be played for any pitcher, and is precisely why you look at career numbers (and age) when making a valuation.
Why would you go back in time so far. It’s not very informative to what that player can do in 2016
Greinke’s rWAR the five years before this last elite one were 4.3, 3.9, 3.6, 1.5, and 3.4. Zero of those seasons are elite. Those are Shelby Miller seasons.
This story smells like such an agent leak I think I can actually smell Bryce Dixon’s cologne through the monitor. I don’t think Andrew Friedman is that stupid.
Desperation, by Bryce Dixon. Now at Macy’s.
Friedman works for the Dodgers.
Yes. The idea being Dixon leaked this to Rosenthal as a way to bait the Dodgers into calling him.
Right. That’s what he’s saying. That Bryce is trying to make the Dodgers bid higher by making them scared that the Giants are going to sign him.
Only theoretically. These days he’s doing much better work for the Diamondbacks.
Just curious — why is this an overly “desperate” ploy as opposed to every other free-agent signing that is preceded by a report saying, “[Team] Aggressively Pursuing/Making Strong Push For [Player]”?
Because it came out of nowhere, and doesn’t make sense.
He declines his offer from the DBacks, which arguably makes sense because Dixon should wait until the top tier defines the market for his client,
Then a bunch of his logical suitors jump off the board (with the exception of the Dodgers) with moves of their own. All of a sudden teams that Dixon could have bid against one another are out. Don’t hear much for a couple beats out of Cueto’s camp.
Dixon then gives that ridiculous interview about how the Cardinals are such a great fit (Mozeliak’s response was, basically, “Meh”). Radio silence again.
Finally, hours after the Cardinals say they’re not considering ANY 9-figure contracts, Cueto’s last logical destination (Dodgers)’s biggest rival is suddenly making a “strong push”? Why would the Giants do that?
If I’m an agent trying to churn up a market for my client, I’d try something more nuanced.
“Why would the Giants do that?”
Because they need rotation help
Lets go Giants lets get Cueto.Johnny is really good playing in the national league.
Lets? You have a Cardinals picture next to your name…
It’s an odd numbered year. Next year is 2016 back to the Giants!
LOL!
Basically it is choose which combo you want:
Cueto SP and Williamson LF
or
Alex Gordon LF and Heston SP
I think there is a bit more depth in the LF department when it comes to low end bargains, so I would lean towards Cueto.
More likely Cueto SP and Blanco LF, if they sign Cueto that is. At least for the start of the season.
They like to start established players at positions to begin the year (i.e. McGehee last year). I like Williamson’s numbers in the Fall League and am intrigued to see what he can do.
Parra or Fowler
I think that the Giants should sign Leake and sign Alex Gordon we’ve always had that lack of a LF post Bonds era
either way, to lose Grienke to the Dbacks and Cueto to the Giants, that will be just sad for the Dodgers, all of us fans will be pissed, and it will be a lost season.
Why spend money unnecessarily? I wouldn’t’ have given out any of those contracts if I was the Dodgers GM either.
I sure wish the Pirates could sign him.
This good for the Halos. Waste your money on Cueto, you’re going to spend it somewhere, SF is still $40M below last years’ payroll.
Cueto’s the best player remaining on the market, period. And it’s not really close.
Why does he not get the respect his record deserves?
Because people only want to look at postseason numbers.
It baffles me that we care more about his success in 7 career games in the playoffs over the 226 games he played in his career.
Recency bias plus he played most of his career with the Reds so people aren’t as familiar with him than if he had played for a large market team.
The only reason he didn’t get the Cy Young in 2014 was a man name Clayton Kershaw happens to exist.
He’s held up pretty good but you have to look at the numbers last year.
This isn’t pennies and nickles we’re talking about here.
Long term contract to a maybe falling apart guy could
cripple the teams finances for years to come.
Plus you have the likes of Strasburg hit free agency next year.
Wouldn’t you want to save the money and spend it on a younger arm?
Except you aren’t saving money, most likely. Strasburg is the top pitcher in next year’s FA class. There will be a lot of teams going for him, simply because there aren’t a whole lot of comparable players that they can make their Plan B if they miss him.
Bumgarner-Cueto-Samardzija-Peavy-Heston-Cain = that’s real good. Certified contender good.
Heston becomes the long relief man in that situation
Cueto would probably push one of Heston, Cain or Peavy out of the rotation though….setting up a potential trade?
Likely just use Heston in a Yusmeiro type role… or a Vogelsong type role (a guy to fill in when a starter goes down).
Heston will become Long relief/Spot starter. Yusmeiro Petit is gone.
If Cueto goes to the Giants, the Dodgers will likely look to add via trade to keep up. Especially if Leake ends up in Arizona. Indians and Dodger rumors are bound to start up soon.
I can’t imagine the Dodgers would like the asking price for any of the Indians’ starters. If it’s anything remotely close to the Belt/Panik asking price, I can’t see many, if any at all, even discussing a trade.
As it stands, Kershaw/Ryu/Iwakuma/Anderson/Wood, while extremely left-handed, is not a bad rotation.
He’ll most likely get something Lesteresque. It’s too bad that a few bad months with the Royals hurt his market so much.
Something Lesteresque wouldn’t be a depressed market, that’s what he deserves. He’s very similar to Lester.
Not even close. Cueto is a top 10 pitcher in baseball. Not sure Lester is top 30.
Cardinals need him but won’t pay him market value.
Come on theo jump out of the weeds and get him now.
My friend, if Theo had that kind of cash left to spend, he should spend it somewhere else.
Theo never had talks with his agent in the first place.
Jed and Theo are smarter than that.
Last year, the Giants went after Lester with James Shields as their plan b, and ended up losing out on both. This year, allegedly, they went after Greinke and may be pursuing Cueto as plan b. The problem with the Giants is that they have a weird fascination with over-paying for lower talent and paying at/below market price for top level talent. If I was a betting man, I’d say they miss out on Cueto too.
How much money are you out?
I have a bad feeling that Cueto is going to miss significant time next year due to an arm injury and quite possibly have to have Tommy John surgery. No way would I risk spending that much money if I was the Giants. As a Royals fan when he was on he was electric. But GM’s should also take note how bad he was in KC as well.
Talk about a generic prediction…
aaaand… you know this how?
Guy has the worst half of his career arguably the only horrible stretch he’s been on in recent seasons and people talk about him like he is Phillip Humber, this guy is an ace and should be signed as one, he’s dominant
If the Giants sign Cueto.
They’ll be taking on two guys coming off of their worst years.
Maybe they might bounce back but do you want to invest more than 200M
on two super gambles?
Giants have to be smart enough to walk away.
Let the Dodgers overspend instead and grab Strasburg next year.
Speaking of overspending on guy coming off their worst years…
He’s a younger arm.
That’s not the point you made.
Besides, Strasburg is a pretty massive gamble as well. Will you get 1st half Stephen Strasburg or 2nd half? Will he stay healthy?
Strasburg isn’t a bad pitcher, but he’ll also command A LOT next year, due to the thinner FA market.
So far it is giants unless it falls through at very end