A Conspiracy Theorist Guide to Johnny Cueto and the Astros

Jun 7, 2014; Albuquerque, NM, USA; Actor and director Mel Gibson attends UFC Fight Night 42 at Tingley Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

First of all, I am not Mel Gibson in the Movie Conspiracy Theory, but some comments made by Astros social media have made me a little suspicious. I am not sure of the context that certain Tweets were written or if it was designed to mess with fans heads a little. With the Astros back in contention, there are expectations that the Astros should trade some of their prospects for a starting pitcher to go for the playoffs in 2015. There are other people, such as CTH’s Issa Cook and Larry Manch, who believe that the Astros need to stay the course and keep the prospects. Issa wrote about this very idea yesterday with Astros Rotation Will Survive Without Trade.

There are many rumored pitchers that are available at the trade deadline, including Johnny Cueto, Cole Hamels, Scott Kazmir, Kyle Lohse, Mike Leake, and several other names. While we are not sure if Hamels will accept a trade to the Astros, we do know that he will cost more to acquire because he is under team control until the 2018 season. Most of the Astros social media have zeroed in on one pitcher in particular, and that pitcher was not selected to the All-Star team last night in the Final Vote.

That pitcher is Johnny Cueto, who is a free agent after the 2015 season. With the Cincinnati Reds not in the playoff hunt this season, they are looking to trade some talent in return for players they probably won’t be able to retain. The Houston Astros have the goods to trade for almost any pitcher that will be available with the deepest farm system in baseball. Yes, they have lost some prospects to the big leagues in Carlos Correa, Preston Tucker, Lance McCullers Jr, and Vincent Velasquez, but they still have some talent with a great draft in 2015.

Here is an idea that some fans and radio broadcasters are talking about a potential Cueto trade idea.

Any trade the Astros make, they will have to give up some prospects. Jeff Luhnow has to decide how much they could stand to lose or do they already have a trade in the works?

Next: Part one of the Conspiracy