Giants' Cueto wants to finish career in AL

Don't worry, San Francisco Giants fans. Johnny Cueto's not going anywhere just yet.

But the All-Star right-hander does appear to have mapped out the ideal end to his career in his head, and unless something radical happens it doesn't involve him throwing his last pitch in a Giants uniform. Cueto told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday that his preference would be to eventually finish his career pitching for an American League team.

"It's just a personal preference because I played so much in the National League," Cueto told Schulman.

"I sometimes feel the American League is stronger than the National League," he continued. "It doesn't matter where I play. It's baseball. But I would like to finish my career in the American League."

Indeed, all but 13 of Cueto's 261 career starts have come in baseball's Senior Circuit, as a member of both the Giants and Cincinnati Reds. The 31-year-old's lone trip into the AL was a good one for him, however, as he helped the Kansas City Royals win the 2015 World Series after they acquired him near that year's trade deadline in a rental deal.

Statistically speaking, Cueto's short stay in Kansas City wasn't outstanding - a 4.76 ERA while averaging just over six strikeouts per nine innings in the regular season - although he did turn in several stellar starts for the Royals when it mattered in October. He's owned AL clubs during interleague play, though, and has a career 2.64 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 168 strikeouts versus the Junior Circuit in 30 interleague starts (he didn't make a regular-season start against the NL while in Kansas City).

Cueto does have the ability to opt out of his six-year, $130-million deal with the Giants at season's end. There's no indication that he'll exercise it - but if he does, you can be sure more than a few AL executives will be interested in helping him make this odd dream come true.