After an amazing campaign in 2014, Cincinnati Reds ace Johnny Cueto has given the team an Opening Day deadline to sign him to an extension beyond 2015 in order to avoid the talks becoming a distraction during the campaign.
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Cueto, 28, will make $10 million in 2015, which is the option year of his contract.
If the Reds don't sign him to an extension prior to the team's Opening Day game with the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates on April 6, the team will risk him becoming a free agent for the first time in his career at season's end.
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"I told the Reds that at the meeting we had during the Winter Meetings," Cueto's agent Bryce Dixon told MLB.com on Tuesday about Cueto's guidelines to negotiating. "Nothing has changed. It's not something that's adversarial. Johnny said to me at the end of the season to 'work something out but if not, I don't want to be the guy messing with contracts in the middle of a season.,'"
He continued: "His rationale is there is plenty of time to get it worked out. If not, no hard feelings."
Cueto has a lot of momentum on his side as he is coming off of a 2014 campaign where he finished second in Cy Young Award voting in the National League.
Cueto limited opponents to an MLB-best .134 batting average against him while ranking second in the league in wins (20-tied) and innings pitched (243.2), third in WHIP (0.96) and fourth in ERA (2.25). He also paced the NL with 242 strikeouts.
Cueto, the Reds first 20-game winner since 1988, likes playing in Cincinnati, but doesn't want to distract the team with negotiations.
"He loves Cincinnati and wants to stay with the Reds," Dixon said. "But he does not want to be a distraction in the middle of the season if he has not signed. He wants there to be some sort of closure once the season starts."
He added: "He wants to stay if the numbers are right."
Cincinnati is coming off of a disappointing season where it finished in fourth place with a 76-86 record and missed the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.
Cueto was signed by the Reds in 2004 and has played with Cincinnati for his entire seven-year run in the majors. Cueto is 85-57 in his career with a 3.27 ERA and 995 strikeouts.
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