Miami Marlins Still Not Ready to Activate Veteran Johnny Cueto

The Miami Marlins, current owners of the top wild card spot in the National League, aren't ready to activate veteran pitcher Johnny Cueto from the injured list. They'll have him make another rehab start.

The following update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

Cueto (biceps/ankle) is scheduled to make his next rehab start Saturday with Triple-A Jacksonville, FishOnFirst.com reports.

ANALYSIS
Cueto has already made six starts over the course of two separate minor-league rehab assignments and built up to six innings and 94 pitches in his most recent outing Monday, but the Marlins aren't yet eager to open up a spot in the rotation for a pitcher who has compiled a 10.50 ERA, 1.96 WHIP and 10:6 K:BB over 24 frames between Jacksonville and Double-A Pensacola. The 37-year-old may need a strong showing Saturday to make a compelling case for the playoff-contending Marlins to activate him from the 60-day injured list following the All-Star break.

Cueto should be an option for the Marlins in the rotation if they want to limit the innings for 20-year-old starter Eury Perez, but if he hasn't shown enough, they could also cut bait and send him to the free agent market again.

Cueto is in his 16th year in the big leagues with the Reds, Royals, Giants, White Sox and Marlins.

He is a two-time All-Star selection who helped the Royals win the 2015 World Series.

For his career, he's 143-108 with a 3.46 ERA. He led the majors in innings pitched (243.2) in 2014 and led the league in strikeouts that same year.

He's battled injuries the last several years, having only thrown 150 or more innings once since 2017.

He's appeared in just one game this season, surrendering four runs in one inning.

The Marlins are 51-37 and lead the wild card race by 3.5 games over the Dodgers.

Miami will take on the St. Louis Cardinals again on Thursday. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. ET.

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