Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The stats for Johnny Cueto look better than good so far this year. Unfortunately for the Cincinnati Reds those stats cover only six starts because of an extended disabled list stay that kept Cueto out from April 13 until May 20 of the 2013 season. He made three successful starts before the injury and three after he came back. The last of those was an eight inning shutout performance where he gave up only one hit to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Now once again he is on the disabled list. This time it is a right shoulder strain that has him on the 15 day DL. With the Reds in second place but fading a little bit this is not the best time to lose Cueto once again. Injury riddled season do happen though and the good news for Cueto is that it is his shoulder and not his elbow. The Reds hope that with a conservative stay on the DL, Cueto will be good to go for the balance of the season.
Though they hate to lose him for another few weeks and it certainly isn’t the best time to lose the ace of the staff, there is a good chance that going without Cueto now will result in a better chance at him having a healthy second half. Best of all is the fact that the pitchers the Reds have given a chance to fill starter roles this season have done an admirable job at the very least and at best, a great job.
As tough as they are as a team the Reds should survive until Cueto once again returns. They probably cannot afford to lose him another time after the all-star break though so he should get himself fully healthy now.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google+.
