Johnny Cueto made it clear that he'd be willing to sign a contract extension with the Cincinnati Reds as long as the negotiations took place before Opening Day. Well, it's not looking so good with about four days remaining.
According to FOX Sports' Jon Morosi, the Reds and Cueto have made "no progress" in extension talks. A little over a week ago general manager Walt Jocketty said the two have had "some discussions" but he wasn't sure how it was "going to play out." Cincinnati's market isn't conducive to handing out the type of contract Cueto is expected to land.
The right-hander finished second in the National League Cy Young voting only behind Clayton Kershaw and led the NL in innings pitched (243 2/3), strikeouts (242), batters faced (961) and hits per nine innings (6.2). He finished 20-9 with a 2.25 ERA and 0.96 WHIP and earned his first All-Star honors.
Cincinnati is in a tough spot considering top-tier starting pitchers such as Max Scherzer and Jon Lester signed contracts in excess of $150 million this past offseason, and Cueto is bound to cash in on such a deal because his ERA and WHIP are better than theirs over the past three seasons.
Prior to last season the Reds may have been able to afford Cueto on a long-term deal, but they signed starter Homer Bailey for $105 million and added that to the contracts of Joey Votto ($225 million), Brandon Phillips ($98 million) and Jay Bruce ($51 million). They already have $78 million guaranteed on the books for 2016 and are expected to hit $113 million when all is said and done, according to Baseball-Reference. Cueto earning a salary of about $25 million would hike that up much too high for the organization's liking.
John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer caught up with Jocketty over the weekend during spring training and asked about the negotiations.
"We've talked some," Jocketty told Fay. "I don't think we'll get a deal done by Opening Day. I don't know how hard and fast that deadline is."
Unfortunately for the Reds, this further indicates Cueto will either hit free agency after the season or they'll attempt to trade him before the deadline if they don't look to be in contention for the postseason.
