Bob Lutz: Johnny (Cueto) hasn’t been good for a while now

Johnny Cueto could find it just as abruptly as he lost it.

He could start pitching again like the ace the Kansas City Royals thought they were getting in a deadline deal with Cincinnati. Or he could, I suppose, remain the funk that has set in over Cueto’s past four starts, in which he has a 9.45 ERA and has given up 37 hits and 21 earned runs in 20 innings.

To quote flamboyant right-hander Joaquin Andujar, who died Tuesday at 62 after battling diabetes: “There is one word in America that says it all, and that one word is “youneverknow.” Right now with Cueto, you just don’t know.

Cueto, who like Andujar is from San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, hit the ground running with the Royals. He had a 1.80 ERA in his first four starts and looked like the sure-fire Game 1 playoff starter come October.

Now there has to be doubt swirling in the minds of Royals general manager Dayton Moore, manager Ned Yost and pitching coach Dave Eiland.

Cueto hasn’t just been sub-par over his past four starts, he’s been lousy. After the Royals’ brass expressed a belief that he had fixed a mechanical problem in his delivery before his most recent outing Saturday against the Chicago White Sox, Cueto lasted just three innings while giving up five runs.

The most alarming aspect is the way opposing hitters are attacking Cueto. In nearly four months with the Reds this season, opposing hitters had a .196 average against Cueto. That was slightly better than 2014, when Cueto was 20-9 with a 2.25 ERA and finished second in the National League Cy Young Award balloting. Opposing batters suffered to a .194 average last season, when Cueto allowed only 169 hits in 243.2 innings.

It’s the 243.2 innings that make me wonder about whether Cueto is breaking down some as the 2015 season progresses.

Cueto is only 29 and, at 220 pounds, he’s a horse. But he had pitched more than 200 innings in a season only once before 2014, when the Reds worked him hard.

Cueto is just over 180 innings pitched this season and the first 160 of them were exemplary. But something is clearly off. Cueto’s fastball velocity is slightly down from last season, but not enough to warrant concern. Pitch location has been at the crux of his recent problems.

I suppose the Royals could go with young right-hander Yordano Ventura, another Dominican, as their postseason Game 1 starter. Ventura put together a great string of starts before struggling in a loss to Minnesota on Labor Day, when he allowed eight hits and four runs in 5.1 innings.

In five previous starts, Ventura allowed only 20 hits and struck out 43 over 32 innings with a 1.13 ERA.

But it doesn’t feel like his time as a postseason ace has arrived. That’s why Cueto was brought in – to be the guy in October and, potentially, November.

The Royals also have to figure out third and fourth starters in the postseason – right now Edinson Volquez and Danny Duffy look most likely to fill those roles.

As good as Kansas City is defensively and in the bullpen, and even with the team’s much-improved offense, there are glitches in the starting pitching rotation.

Cueto was supposed to address those glitches. Instead, he’s become a cause for concern.

He will pitch again Saturday, at Baltimore, on five days’ rest. Royals Nation will be hoping for a great result. A strong and dominant Cueto isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Johnny (Cueto) hasn’t been good for a while now."