why is Cueto throwing so many innings??

[redsfan4445]

per rotoworld:

"Johnny Cueto fanned 10 while allowing three runs in six innings Monday in his third start in the Dominican Winter League.
Cueto has a 2.65 ERA and a 17/5 K/BB ratio in 17 innings. We wonder how much longer it will be before the Reds start getting concerned about his workload. It's not like he missed a big chunk of the season. The 21-year-old threw 161 1/3 innings at three levels of the minors in 2007."

[Blitz Dorsey]

Good point. My guess would be there's probably a lot of pressure to pitch for his Dominican team, but hopefully the Reds will step in and curtail this to some extent. We don't need our second-best pitching prospect blowing his arm out due to overuse.

[cincyinco]

reds are monitoring him closely & will pull him if they deem it necessary

[OnBaseMachine]

They are handling him very poor IMO. This organization badly needs for Johnny Cueto to develop into a stud atop the rotation. Having him throw nearly 180 innings and possibly more at age 21 is a good way of getting him injured.

[Heath]

Maybe Krivsky needs a chat with this guy.

[cincyinco]

I'm a firm believer that its not how many innings you throw, but how many pitches you throw. hopefully in this day and age the reds monitor that on some kind of level.

if a pitcher throws 9 innings, but got it done in say 100 pitches.. is that 9 innings worse than 7 innings 120 pitches?

now, I know nothing about cueto's avg pitch counts or even recent pitch counts. however, if its under watch and regulated so as to not overwork his arm, then I don't really believe its detrimental to cueto's long term development and/or health.

[dougdirt]

It was 10 days since his last start.... so he was probably very rested. I don't think he pitches much more than 20-25 innings. If he does, the Reds are absolutely stupid.

[oneupper]

This should be in the Minor League Forum. Everyone can post there. We already had a Johnny Cueto Winter League Update thread going.

Here's part of the discussion from that thread:

Originally Posted by dougdirt
Well, as far as Cueto goes, I think he threw something like 15 innings last season over a month and a half. I would expect a similar thing from him again this year.

Posted by oneupper
Don't be so certain. What happens in the Winter Leagues is that most of the better local players will report late (mid, late November, early December). In the meantime, teams still have to put guys on the field, so they'll turn to younger players coming back from single A or the Mexican league while they wait for the AA, AAA and MLB players.

That was Cueto's role last year. After December, I'm not even sure he was on the active roster.

This year however, after pitching in AAA, he might actually have a spot on the Aguilas' rotation, in which case he could get as many as 10-15 starts

It looks like it Cueto is a spot starter on the Aguilas and that the Reds probably agreed to that role. So it won't be as little as DD says or as much as I feared.

It's early November. The Elimination Phase runs through December. Cueto could easily get another 3-5 starts, meaning 15-30 more innings. The Round Robin phase (playoffs) runs through all January.

The fact that he's performing well will mean the Aguilas will want to use him more. The REDS will probably not be so happy about that. This kind of back and forth isn't uncommon between Winter League teams and MLB orgs. Its one reason that WL teams resort to hiring Tom Shearn types (30ish minor league starters) instead of using MLB prospects.

At least Cueto can enjoy being on winning team for a while.

[oneupper]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

It was 10 days since his last start.... so he was probably very rested. I don't think he pitches much more than 20-25 innings. If he does, the Reds are absolutely stupid.

Just checked. Aguilas have played 14 games. Cueto has made 3 starts. Looks like he's on the rotation as a regular.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by oneupper

Just checked. Aguilas have played 14 games. Cueto has made 3 starts. Looks like he's on the rotation as a regular.

True, but he had 3 starts. One on October 19th, then had 6 days rest and started on the 26th. He then had 9 days o rest before starting on the 5th. He is getting some nice rest in there. I don't like the idea that he is getting lots of innings and I hope he doesn't pitch much more this season, but he is at least getting plenty of rest between his starts (lets note that the 9 days rest was not caused by weather, his team played all of those days between there).

[EddieMilner]

This is slightly off topic, but...
A couple of years ago I was down in the DR and checked out a WL game between Licey and Aguilas. It was the best baseball experience I ever had. People were absolutely going nuts for it. If you ever get a chance, definitely do it.

[oneupper]

Originally Posted by EddieMilner

This is slightly off topic, but...
A couple of years ago I was down in the DR and checked out a WL game between Licey and Aguilas. It was the best baseball experience I ever had. People were absolutely going nuts for it. If you ever get a chance, definitely do it.

Aguilas and Licey are a HUGE rivalry (think Red Sox - Yankees with Latin tempers).

In Venezuela...it's CARACAS-MAGALLANES. Also highly recommended.