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Per the beats, Johnny Cueto, currently with the Round Rock Express on a minor league deal, has a clause in his contract that allowed him to opt out of the deal if he is not added to the major league roster by June 1. That window has been extended by 72 hours, which means the Rangers have until tomorrow to decide whether to add Cueto to the major league roster, or else Cueto can opt out and become a free agent.
The 38 year old Cueto spent last year with the Miami Marlins, where he put up a 6.02 ERA and a 7.02 FIP in 52 innings over 13 appearances. Since signing with the Rangers in late April, he has made a three inning appearance for the ALC team, followed by three starts covering 15 innings for Round Rock.
Cueto has put up a 2.40 ERA in his time with the Express, though with just 11 Ks against 2 walks. Scott Lucas on Twitter says that “the Statcast data isn’t nearly so encouraging” as the ERA would suggest, however.
One can look at the state of the Rangers’ roster currently, see that they are currently carrying Gerson Garabito and Jesus Tinoco on the active roster, and say, well, of course the Rangers should add Cueto. However, with Jon Gray expected back from the injured list this week, the Rangers’ rotation will have Gray, Andrew Heaney, Michael Lorenzen, Dane Dunning and Nathan Eovaldi. All five of those pitchers would appear to be better rotation options than Cueto.
I guess one can argue that Dunning or Heaney could be moved to the bullpen to make room for Cueto, but that still would seem to represent a downgrade in the rotation that isn’t necessarily balanced by whatever upgrade you get from putting Dunning or Heaney in the pen. Alternatively, you could look to make Cueto your long man, though that’s not a role he’s filled before.
As we have discussed ad nauseum, there are also starting pitchers who one would hope will be making their way back to the active roster in the coming months. Tyler Mahle would seem to be on schedule to be back from Tommy John surgery next month. Max Scherzer may be ready in a few weeks or may never pitch again, and Cody Bradford’s stress fracture not healing as rapidly as hoped has him as a big question. And there is Jacob deGrom, who we hope to see some point in the final month or two in the season, but who is the biggest question mark of them all.
And so, with all that in play, the Rangers have a decision to make on Cueto. At this point, I wouldn’t be really surprised whichever direction the team went with this.
