Johnny Cueto joins Royals following trade

And while he’s thrilled to be joining one of baseball’s best teams, the Royals are equally excited to have Cueto.

Two days earlier, Kansas City acquired ace right-hander Johnny Cueto from the Cincinnati Reds.

Gold and red, Cueto placed the crown atop his dreadlocked head and posed in front of a banner that said “Bienvendio al equipo de KC Royals!!!” welcoming him to the Royals in Spanish.

Called up last year during the club’s World Series run, Dominguez signed in the offseason with the Reds and made their Opening Day roster.

The Royals last won the title in 1985, and the trade was greeted with a loud ovation when it was announced during the third inning of Kansas City’s home game against Houston on Sunday afternoon. But they still needed a fortified rotation with the injury to Vargas, and the less than stellar play of Yordano Ventura.

Lamb turned 25 last week and is tied for the Pacific Coast League lead in wins this season. He amassed 3.1 WAR for the Reds, ranking him ninth among NL pitchers.

The Royals will remove either Jeremy Guthrie or Chris Young from the rotation to make room for Cueto.

Yost said the Royals had their eye on the 29-year-old Cueto for some time. We can run. We can score runs. The comparison is unfair, but the ideal scenario for Moore would be a Madison Bumgarner-like October for Cueto.

The Reds held off on going into full sell-mode until after the All-Star Game, which they hosted, and delaying the inevitable doesn’t seem to have hurt the returns. He pitched eight scoreless innings in Cincinnati’s 5-2 victory at Colorado on Saturday night. As a reliever, he’s largely junked the pitch but it was above-average at times when he was pitching as a starter in college. Given his age and experience in the Major Leagues, he carries the rare blend of a high ceiling and floor.

And Baseball America’s J.J.

The 25-year-old Lamb, a fifth-round pick in 2008, is 9-1 with a 2.67 ERA in 17 starts for Omaha. His road to success has been a long and winding one, but Lamb could help Cincinnati sooner rather than later. He’s racking up a lot of strikeouts (10.7 K/9), but is walking his fair share as well (6.3 BB/9). MLB.com rated him as Kansas City’s No. 26 prospect entering 2015 and he struck out a career-high 11 batters in six-plus innings for the Wilmington Blue Rocks in mid-May.