Johnny Cueto's $22M Contract Option Declined by Giants for 2022 Season

Johnny Cueto's six-year run with the San Francisco Giants has likely come to an end. 

Per MLB Network's Jon Heyman, the Giants declined the 35-year-old's $22 million option for the 2022 season on Friday. 

Coming off a surprising performance in 2021, the Giants have a lot of major roster decisions to make this offseason. Brandon Belt, Kris Bryant, Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood and Scott Kazmir are all unrestricted free agents.

All of those questions likely made it easier for the Giants to turn down Cueto's salary. However, they could still bring him back, potentially at a reduced price, next season. 

Even though the Giants were on the fringes of playoff contention in 2020 with an expanded field, their 29-31 record didn't seem to indicate they were trending in the right direction after winning 77 games in 2019. 

Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told NBC Sports Bay Area's pregame show (h/t Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area) in August 2020 there were going to be a number of factors considered before the team would decide whether to make any trades.

"We're trying to evaluate our team, and there are maybe areas where as an organization we have some surpluses, where we have some needs," he said. "Not every trade is going to necessarily be a trade of a 'rental' or some of the typical types of trade scenarios that you get." 

Well, the 2021 season turned out to be a massive success in the Bay Area. The Giants won the NL West for the first time in nine years with a 107-55 record. Cueto was effective enough with a 4.09 ERA through 21 starts, but he missed the final month of the season and the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers with an elbow injury. 

Heading into free agency at 35 (he'll be 36 in February) leaves a lot of uncertainty for the Dominican. He also has to prove he can stay healthy over the course of a full season after appearing in just 46 games over the past four years combined. 

Cueto will likely be able to pitch in the back of a rotation for many teams seeking help at the position. His innings should be carefully managed because of his limited workload in recent years, but there's some upside left in him as a No. 4 or 5 option.

As a two-time All-Star and one-time World Series champion with a career ERA of 3.45, it stands to reason that Cueto will garner at least some interest on the free-agent market.