The San Francisco Giants have signed Johnny Cueto reports Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports it’s a six-year deal worth $130 million. The deal is pending a physical.
Sources: Johnny Cueto has an agreement with the Giants, pending a physical.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 14, 2015
The Giants have done some nice work this offseason addressing their rotation. They were finalists for Zack Greinke, but didn’t sit around when he ended up choosing the Arizona Diamondbacks. They quickly inked Jeff Samardzija to a five-year, $90 million deal, and with the Cueto signing they’ve locked up another one of the top free agent starting pitchers available.
The righty rejected a six-year, $120 million offer from the Diamondbacks earlier this offseason, which at the time seemed crazy. But give the starting pitching market now, it was a shrewd move. Cueto earns just over $1.6 million per year more with this deal, and gets to pitch on an established winning team.
The 29-year-old had a mixed bag season in 2015. He was flat out dominant in 19 starts with the Reds, going 7-6 with a 2.62 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. When he was traded to the Kansas City Royals he had a bumpy finish going 4-7 with a 4.76 ERA and 1.45 WHIP. His playoffs went similarly, as he was lit up in Game 3 of the ALCS allowing eight earned runs in two innings, but bounced back to throw a one-run complete game in Game Two of the World Series.
San Francisco’s rotation is now stacked, as Cueto joins Samardzija, Madison Bumgarner, Jake Peavy, Matt Cain and Chris Heston. The Giants missed the playoffs in 2015, and with their current rotation, they’re setting themselves up well so that doesn’t happen again.
