2016 MLB free agency: Who hurt stock in postseason

Johnny Cueto

No player had a crueler second half of the season in regards to setting up his value than Cueto did. Coming off of a season in Cincinnati where he finished second in the National League Cy Young Award race in 2014, he was in prime position to place himself among very top shelf of free agents this year.

However, once he was dealt the Kansas City Royals at the trade deadline, Cueto lost his way as soon as his feet made American League soil their homeland. In his two months as a Royal, he won only four games over his 13 regular season starts, and saw his ERA rise over two earned runs from 2.62 in Cincinnati to 4.76 in Kansas City.

And so far, the postseason has been nearly just as confounding, as his performance has altered between so-so (a six inning, four earned run, no-decision outing vs Houston), brilliant (eight innings, 2 runs, eight k’s win vs Houston) and the appalling (two innings, eight run, loss vs Toronto).

This is not the type of consistency that makes any organization committing north of $150 million towards for a rotation leader. And Cueto has likely disqualified himself from that type of package over the past few weeks.

Next: Scott Kazmir