The Kansas City Royals acquired a much-needed asset in frontline starting pitcher Johnny Cueto from the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. It's a boon to the Royals' chances to repeat at American League champions and win their first World Series since 1985.
However, in the modern landscape of Major League Baseball, the more prudent question in deals such as these seems to be, who did you give up? In this particular deal, the Royals gave up a trio of left-handed pitchers in 24-year old John Lamb, 22-year old Brandon Finnegan and 22-year old Cody Reed. Lamb, as of now, is the key piece to the deal as he's posted dazzling numbers in AAA in what has been a rejuvenating year for him as a prospect after a UCL tear and the subsequent Tommy John surgery that followed railroaded his status as a top-flight prospect. He's the most ready of the three to slot into a big-league rotation. Finnegan will forever go down in Royals lore for his incredible postseason performance, most notably his 2 1/3 innings of relief in the Wild Card game against the A's. However, it's murky whether or not he projects as a valuable starting pitcher, as he has yet to be used as anything other than a reliever in the pros. Reed is considered the player with the most upside here. He was promoted to AA-Northwest Arkansas after a stellar couple months in High-A Wilmington. Though, it's well documented that Wilmington is a pitcher's haven and many Royals prospects — some good, some bad — have had ogles of success there.
It's a decent haul for the Reds and it's my opinion that both teams make out well here.
I find myself amazed nowadays though how so much of the conversation surrounding these deals is rife with trepidation from analysts and fans about giving up "too much" in the way of prospects. As is the case in many walks of life, which sports is just as proved to, there's been an overcorrection in the way we value prospects.
As recent as fifteen years ago it was commonplace for front offices to make trades for established players without regard for the prospects in which it was giving up. Just shipping away loads of potentially valuable future pieces for a rental. Sabermetricians and forward thinking baseball folks rightfully criticized these moves at the time, but they were mostly on an island, as very few fans placed high value on their team's farm system. There's more data than ever now and front offices are much smarter in the way they operate, thus the mainstream media is much smarter in the way they evaluate and in turn the fans are much more educated in the way they react.
This is why I was inundated by friends and overwhelmed while perusing social media at the amount of Royals fans who were terrified they gave away too much for Cueto. One friend listed the possibility that Lamb, Finnegan and Reed could "all be pretty good pitchers." The Reds wouldn't have made the trade if they didn't think that was a possibility as well.
Seemingly every trade nowadays has to be won or lost, which is why the knee-jerk reaction from fans seems to accompany every trade involving prospects. Prospects have become such a delicacy that people often forget how frequently they flop. You can't build a team solely off of prospects, because prospects, especially pitching prospects, will break your heart. Break. Your. Heart. The Royals have as much experience as any in this department. So their seeming departure from coveting them as potential building blocks to stockpiling and using them as trade pieces to acquire top-level talent to add to a championship-caliber team has been refreshing.
The bottom line is this: The Royals acquired one of the best pitchers in baseball and did so without surrendering any of their perceived top three prospects. They addressed what is, really, their only weakness to this point of the season in the starting rotation. They did not need Cueto to make the playoffs, or really even to win the AL Central, which they now lead by eight games (largest lead since 1980). But they did need him to bolster their chances to win a championship.
Anyone regretting the "The Trade" back in 2013 that netted James Shields and Wade Davis — two key pieces on a team that brought KC its first playoff appearance since 1985 and within one game (one base) of a World Series title? And if Cueto helps pitch the Royals to a title this year no one will or should care what becomes of Lamb, Finnegan and Reed.
Flags fly forever. And Dayton Moore struck while the iron was piping hot. For that, he should be lauded.
