The Kansas City Royals are making power moves to position themselves for a strong playoff run in October by acquiring ace pitcher Johnny Cueto from the Cincinnati Reds this past weekend.
The trade includes the Royals left handed pitching trio of Cody Reed, Brandon Finnegan and John Lamb in exchange for the rights to Cueto, who is 7-6 with a 2.62 ERA and 19 starts this season. He also has back-to-back All Star appearances.
Cueto put on a clinic this weekend, pitching 8 scoreless innings right after he found that he had been traded.
Having spent all 8 seasons of his career with the Reds, we’ve been able to see him progress in his pitching. Going 92-73 with a 3.21 ERA, leading the NL with 242 strikeouts and finishing 2nd in Cy Young voting.
The Royals are looking to capitalize off of last season’s success and make it back to the World Series. Cueto will definitely help them become a much stronger contender with the improved pitching rotation while the Reds seem to be entering rebuild mode.
