The White Sox are adding some organizational rotation depth, coming to an agreement with veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto on a Minor League deal, according to multiple reports late Monday night. The club has not confirmed the move.
Cueto will pitch at age 36 in 2022, with a lot to prove. The right-hander signed a six-year, $130 million contract with the Giants in December 2015, and his first season with San Francisco proceeded according to plan, as he went 18-5 with a 2.79 ERA, nabbed his second All-Star selection and finished sixth in NL Cy Young Award voting. But things went south after that.
Injuries played a big part, including Tommy John surgery in 2018. Cueto made only 13 combined starts in 2018-19 and over the final five years of his contract, he went 21-22 with a 4.38 ERA (95 ERA+) across 72 games (71 starts). He enjoyed some strong outings early in ‘21 but missed time with lat and elbow injuries and finished with a 4.08 ERA (100 ERA+), 98 strikeouts and 30 walks in 114 2/3 innings.
A right elbow strain kept Cueto out for most of September, with his only appearance coming on Sept. 30. It was the first relief outing of his Major League career. The Giants then left Cueto off their roster for the NL Division Series and declined his $22 million club option for 2022 (paying a $5 million buyout).
Cueto’s fastball velocity, at 91.7 mph in 2021, isn’t what it was early in his career. But he works mainly with a four-pitch mix (four-seamer, changeup, slider and sinker) and looks to keep hitters off balance with all manner of shimmies and other timing-disrupting antics on the mound.
A 14-year veteran, Cueto is 135-97 with a 3.45 ERA and 1,710 career strikeouts. Among pitchers still active in 2021, he ranks 10th in wins and innings, 11th in pitching WAR (per Baseball-Reference) and 13th in strikeouts. He won a World Series ring with the 2015 Royals — tossing a complete-game victory in Game 2 — and was the NL Cy Young Award runner-up for the Reds in 2014, when he topped the NL with 243 2/3 innings and 242 K’s.