let's just bring back Kazmir and/or a 1 year 'prove it" contract for cliff Lee. I'm also warming to the idea of a 1 year Justin Morneau contract to bridge the gap (even for half a year) for the arrival of Reed. I'd be happy with that going forward.
In this market, it isn't crazy at all. Cueto continues to significantly out pitch his FIP, and he struggled in his first time out on Cincinnati, I think those 2 factors hurt the market for him. The FIP thing is weird because he has been so consistent in it, the fact that he under performed his FIP away from Cincy is cause for concern. Teams are always looking for a reason why somebody is a statistical outlier, and Cincy's consistently awesome fielders are one of the attempted explanations. If he continues to post an ERA in the 2's or low 3's, this will be the steal of the offseason given the escalating cost of pitching.
Pitchers that tend to get an excessive number of GBS or IFFBs tend to produce ERAS that outperform FIP. Cueto's FB gets pop ups and his off speed stuff gets grounders. So basically while he isn't elxtreme overall as a GB or Fly Ball guy, depending on the pitch, batters will not hit ball at an optimal angle a lot.
