Pitcher Johnny Cueto (two-time All-Star) chooses not to sign a minor level contract with the Rangers.
Texas’s Arlington (AP) – Pitcher Johnny Cueto, a two-time All-Star, was released from Triple-A Round Rock on Tuesday after choosing to forego his minor league deal with the Texas Rangers.
In nine starts for Round Rock, Cueto was 2-1 with a 5.71 ERA. On Sunday, he won the game against El Paso, giving up three runs in six innings. Following his April 24 agreement to sign a minor league contract with the Rangers, he has pitched 41 innings with 34 strikeouts and 8 walks.
The 38-year-old Cueto spent more than three months on the disabled list due to a biceps injury during the previous season, during which he went 1-4 with a 6.02 ERA in 10 starts and three relief appearances for the Miami Marlins. The club did not have him on its postseason roster.
Cueto was a member of the Kansas City squad that won the World Series in 2015, together with current Rangers general manager Chris Young. After that, Cueto lived in San Francisco for six seasons, the first four of which he shared with manager Bruce Bochy, who is currently residing in Texas. In 2016, Cueto was an All-Star with the Giants, going 18-5 with a 2.79 ERA in 32 starts.
Over 16 big league seasons with Cincinnati (2008–15), Kansas City (2015), the Giants (2016–21), the Chicago White Sox (2022), and the Marlins, he is 144–111 with a 3.50 ERA in 368 games (363 starts). Cueto finished 20-9 with 242 strikeouts in 243 2/3 innings pitched for the Reds in 2014, to tie Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League Cy Young Award.
