Cincinnati Reds‘ Johnny Cueto is one of the biggest names available on the trade market, and it was thought at one time that whichever team was able to acquire him would become favorites in the playoff race. That was until Cueto’s last start on Sunday against the Cleveland Indians, when he only lasted four innings, allowing two earned runs, four hits, a season-high six walks and the velocity on his sinker was only 90.56 mph, which was a season-low. Cueto’s previous high for walks in a game this season was three, and he only had 22 walks for the entire season coming into that start.

Earlier this season, Cueto missed his scheduled start on May 24 because of soreness in his elbow. He had an MRI done, which showed no structural damage. With the clunker that Cueto had on Sunday, teams interested in trading for him are having concerns that there’s something wrong with his elbow once again. All of a sudden, Cueto’s next scheduled start on Friday against the Colorado Rockies becomes extremely important for the Reds, as another bad outing could make it difficult to get any type of valuable package in return for their ace.

It’s entirely possible that opposing general managers interested in acquiring Cueto are purposely leaking false concerns about his elbow in order to bring the Reds’ asking price down. It’s common practice around the trade deadline for executives to use the media to attempt to leave doubt in the mind of the opposing team. With Cueto being a free agent at the end of the season, it really behooves the Reds to trade him in order to get something in return instead of losing him to free agency. But if other general managers can convince Walt Jocketty that the elbow is a real concern, Jocketty could make a rash decision and trade Cueto for cheap.

A situation like this is why the trade deadline is so exciting. General managers and organizations aren’t trustworthy, and there’s no way to know if there’s a hidden agenda. While I would be slightly concerned after Cueto’s control issues and drop in velocity, it could’ve been a result of a first-inning rain delay. Maybe he wasn’t loose after coming back out, who knows? If I were a general manager, though, there’s zero chance I would complete any trade for Cueto before Friday’s start. If it happens again, then I would pull out completely, but if his velocity is up and his control is better, Cueto could end up the biggest prize of the 2015 MLB trade deadline.

Jason Fletcher is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.