
NEW YORK -- Johnny Cueto posted a photo to Instagram on Thursday morning, a smile on his face as he took in an off day in New York. But Cueto admitted Saturday that he wishes he could have spent that day in another major city.
Cueto was hoping to be at the White House with the rest of the 2015 Kansas City Royals as they celebrated a championship he helped them win. He said the Royals never called him or offered any sort of invite.
"I believe I earned it," he said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. "I was on the team. I did something for the team to win the World Series. Yes, I was expecting (to go)."
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Cueto, a midseason addition for Kansas City, certainly did his part last October, throwing a two-hit complete game in Game 2 of the World Series. The schedule this week was set up perfectly for Cueto to spend a special day with his former teammates.
The Giants were off, and they made a late-night trip from Boston to New York after Wednesday's game. Cueto could have flown to Washington D.C. and returned in time for a series with the Yankees. Last weekend, Jonny Gomes told Fox Sports that he was disappointed that he was not invited. In that story, Royals general manager Dayton Moore told Ken Rosenthal that the Royals had a limit to how many people they could invite.
According to Rustin Dodd, a beat writer for the Kansas City Star, a team official said the Royals did not invite any players who were no longer on the team. That included Cueto and Gomes, but also other contributors, like Chicago's Ben Zobrist. Per Dodd, the Royals only took players who are not currently on another team, and who spent all of last year with Kansas City and ended up on the postseason roster.
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The Giants have been through this process three times, and while there are always people left out, they have allowed former players to come if the timing works. Michael Morse joined them at the White House last summer because his new team, the Marlins, had an off day.
"I feel it is the team and the organization's responsibility to invite me," Cueto said of the Royals. "I did a job for them. I feel they should have had the courtesy to invite me."