Wildo7

Fantasy owners you need to know, it's Johnny Cueto time on the wire.

BelichickFan

He's on my team, anyone who looked at his K/BB last year shouldn't be surprised.

Wildo7

I use Yahoo and they just made him available on Tuesday, though I would have picked him up in the draft if I could have. He won't be available until Sunday but luckily I have 1st waiver priority.

Foley

Enjoy it now, because it's only a matter of time before Baker destroys the poor kids arm.

BelichickFan

I've talked myself out of good players far too often. I'll worry about that down the road. He's 22 and had a combined (A, AA, AAA) 170/34 K/BB ratio last year. Basically identical to Bucholtz' 171/35 (amazing the similarity) but Cueto is a year and a half younger; and Bucholtz is universally considered a top ten prospect in baseball so Cueto should be too, IMO.

Foley

He's not universally a top 10 prospect because he's tiny. Pedro has a bigger frame than Cueto, and Pedro is an anomaly.

Thats not to say that Cueto can't be a successful starting pitcher, but many scouts question his ability to successfully transition from a 160IP milb season to a 200IP mlb season. His performance has certainly been great at every level, but the fact that he has such a small frame for a starter is a major cause for concern.

BelichickFan

He's not tiny, he's short. There's plenty of thin, wiry pitchers out there like Pedro, Oswalt, Snell, others. He's generally listed around 190 which isn't tiny for a 5'10" player. Oswalt is 6'0", 185. Snell is 5'11", 190.

Foley

Regardless of how you want to define tiny, a small frame is a concern for any pitchers long term ability to pitch a full season. These aren't my concerns, they're the concerns of a lot of talent evaluators who have scouted him.

There are certainly exceptions like I suggested with Pedro (and you with others), but a pitcher with a small frame is less likely to be as durable as a pitcher with a larger frame.

CMcCartney

I got him in my Yahoo league with the highest (worst) waiver priority.. Apparently the guys in my league aren't believers.. I would expect him to have some success first time through the league, but he'll probably level off after that. Tough to pass on him after his first outing..

BelichickFan

I don't think we disagree, it's just a matter or degree. He's short, not tiny. He's got more of a concern over durability but not a major concern. IMO.