Kansas City Royals Rumors: Have The Royals Finally Traded For Johnny Cueto?

On Saturday, the Kansas City Royals almost had a trade in place for Johnny Cueto, but there were problems with some medical records with a player the Cincinnati Reds was to get in return and the deal fell through.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports has tweeted that a deal went down on Sunday.

Source: #Royals getting Cueto.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 26, 2015

In between the failed deal and the completed deal, Cueto took the mound and pitched a gem of a ballgame. In his final start in a Reds uniform, he pitched eight innings of shutout baseball with five strikeouts, and just four hits and one walk. Cueto got the win, his seventh of the season.

Cueto is a huge get for the Royals. Kansas City wants to return to the World Series again this year, and they needed someone who could lead the rotation. Cueto has produced an earned run average of under 3.00 in each of the past five seasons. As reported earlier here at the Inquisitr, the 29-year-old was on the radar for many teams, but the Royals actually pulled the trigger.

Johnny will join his old teammate Edinson Volquez, Chris Young, Danny Duffy, and Jeremy Guthrie in the Royals rotation. Even before Cueto joins the Kansas City staff, the team has put up solid numbers. The Royals have the second lowest team ERA in the American League, with a mark of 3.43. The bullpen has helped that number a lot with a MLB leading 2.13 ERA, but the problem is that same bullpen has already logged 325 innings, second most in the A.L. Cueto can help the Royals bullpen by being an innings eater. He led the National League in innings pitched last year and needs to go deep into ballgames with the Royals.

This is just a rental for Kansas City as Cueto hits the free agent market at the end of the season. It is highly unlikely that the Royals will open up the checkbook and try to retain Cueto, because that isn’t how they have worked in the past. They are a small market team that can’t pay top dollar for free agents.

CBS Sports is reporting that the Reds will receive three left-handed pitchers in return from the Royals. Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed. The Royals will also receive some cash considerations.

Do you think the Kansas City Royals are now the favorites in the American League?

[Image by Dustin Bradford / Getty Images]