The Royals Didn't Invite Johnny Cueto To The White House Because He's Not On The Royals Anymore
A week ago, I had written about how Jonny Gomes was upset that the Royals didn’t invite him to the White House for their World Series celebration, and how I thought he needed to shut the fuck up because he wasn’t even on the postseason roster, and did nothing to help them win that championship.
But then I see this. The Royals didn’t invite Johnny fucking Cueto to the White House? Um, why?
The Royals say they chose players for the visit who attended had been on the team all year, on the postseason roster, and not currently with another team now.
That is just straight up asinine, and the worst excuse ever to not invite a guy who threw a complete game victory for you in the friggin’ World Series. Like, what? And it’s not that I would’ve agreed with the Royals for not inviting Cueto if they had made him an offer in free agency and he had signed elsewhere, but THEY DIDN’T EVEN MAKE HIM AN OFFER! How are you going to say that you didn’t invite Cueto to the White House because he’s with another team now when you didn’t even try to retain him in free agency, like that’s somehow his fault?
We don’t know if he would’ve stayed. I don’t think he would’ve. He didn’t pitch well against American League lineups, and it seems that he’s most comfortable in the National League, which is where he ultimately chose to go. But not inviting a guy to the White House who won a World Series game for you on the grounds that he’s with another team now is a fucking joke, and the Royals should be embarrassed for doing that.
“I believe that I earned it,” Cueto told the Mercury News on Saturday through an interpreter.
“I did something for the team to win the World Series. So yes, I was expecting it.”
“I feel OK, I feel normal,” Cueto said. “But I also feel it’s the organization’s responsibility to invite me. I did a job for them so I feel they should have had the courtesy to invite me.”
In the grand scheme of things, is not going to the White House a HUGE deal? No. It’s really not. You go, you take pictures with Obama, get your name mispronounced, and the POTUS talks about how he thought your team was great, even though he didn’t watch a single game you played all year. But it’s an experience, and it’s also the principle that Cueto deserved to be there. Not going to the White House doesn’t mean that Cueto doesn’t get a ring now, or that he won’t be featured in the World Series film, or invited back to Kauffman Stadium in 10 years to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their World Series title. But it’s part of it, right? How many great players have come through Major League Baseball, and never won a World Series title?
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When you win the World Series, and you’re not just a player on the roster, but a guy who actually started and won a friggin’ World Series game, then yeah, you should get to experience all that comes along with winning that World Series title, especially if it was something that the player wanted to participate in. Bad look for the Royals.