According to reports, multi-time All-Star and World Series champion Johnny Cueto plans to keep pitching in 2024.
Per Jon Morosi of MLB Network:
Free agent Johnny Cueto is interested in pitching for @EOBASEBALLCLUB
during next month’s @LIDOMRD round robin playoff. Cueto, who turns 38 in February, intends to pitch a 17th @MLB season in 2024. He has a 4.04 ERA over 325-1/3 IP in the last 3 years.
The soon-to-be 38-year-old Cueto battled injuries and ineffectiveness for the Miami Marlins in 2023, going 1-4 with a 6.02 ERA in 13 games. He pitched just 52.1 innings and struck out only 39.
But to Morosi's point, Cueto was a valuable pitcher as recently as 2022, when he made 24 starts for the Chicago White Sox and pitched to a 3.35 ERA.
He's pitched 16 years in the big leagues with the Reds, Royals, Giants, White Sox and Marlins. He was named an All-Star in both 2014 and 2016 and led the league in innings pitched in 2014 (243.2). He helped the Royals win the World Series in 2015 after a midseason trade.
Lifetime, Cueto is 144-111 with a 3.50 ERA. It's difficult to envision what kind of opportunity he'll get after his difficult season a year ago. A rebuilding team may look to bring Cueto in as a guy who can eat innings, and a competitive team may be interested in giving him a minor league deal with a chance to compete for a Major League job.
At that point, it comes down to what Cueto would value at this point in his career.
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