No rumor is too small this time of year. Especially now that obvious trade target Jonathan Sanchez has been dealt to Kansas City, the Twins are going to get more creative with their trade strategies. How about Johnny Cueto?

The other day, this article appeared in the Star Tribune. It mentioned that a Cincinnati radio station said the Twins have contacted the Reds about Cueto. This is the baseball equivalent of an urban legend (my cousin totally knows a guy who said that Cueto woke up in a bathtub full of ice with his kidneys missing), but the Twins need pitchers, so let’s see what Cueto would bring to the table.

Background:

Cueto won’t turn 26 until just before Spring Training, but he has already been a full-time starting pitcher in the Majors for four seasons. Overall, he is 41-37 with a 3.83 ERA and 532 strikeouts in 687 innings. But last year his ERA plummeted to a stellar 2.31, which would have been second best the National League if he had pitched six more innings. Don’t expect Cueto to be among the league leaders in ERA every year, though. His 2011 BABIP was just .247 – about 40 points below his career average, and his strikeout total actually dropped in 2011 to 6.0 per nine innings. His 2010 season, when he went 12-7, 3.64, is probably more in line with what we could expect from Cueto on a regular basis. (more…)