Johnny Cueto turned down six-year, $120 million offer from Arizona

What must it be like to turn down an opportunity to make $20 million per year? Johnny Cueto knows.

The free agent starting pitcher who helped the Kansas City Royals win the World Series last season was reportedly offered a six-year, $120 million deal by the Arizona Diamondbacks but turned it down, possibly in favor of waiting to see what other top-tier pitchers such as David Price and Zack Greinke receive when they sign. MLB.com reported the terms of the deal, which have not been confirmed by the team or Cueto.

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The deal would have been easily the largest in history for Arizona. Last offseason, the Diamondbacks set a club record by signing Cuban Yasmany Tomas to a six-year, $68.5 million deal. The Cueto offer nearly doubled it.

Cueto went 11-13 in 32 starts for Cincinnati and Kansas City last season with a 3.44 ERA. He was 2-1 in the postseason looking pedestrian in one outing and brilliant in a two-hit complete game in the World Series.

Consider this more proof of what Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan wrote after the Zimmermann deal went down: $20 million per season doesn't exactly mean what it used to. The average person might think a player is crazy for turning down $20 million per season, but the fact is that baseball is nearly a $10 billion industry now and nine-figure contracts are handled out quite regularly.

Arizona needs starting pitching and was bold in targeting Cueto and putting forth a strong offer. It's still possible Cueto could end up in the desert with the Diamondbacks, but the franchise will likely have to increase its offer after the market is set by Price and Greinke.

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Diamondbacks General Manager Dave Stewart met with Cueto in the Dominican Republic and met with his agent in Phoenix before the deal was turned down. Stewart told the Arizona Republic he could understand why Cueto is being patient.

In the quest for starting pitching, the D-backs could be eyeing Japanese star Kenta Maeda next. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reports that Arizona is more likely to court him than some of the other mid-level pitchers on the market. Maeda, who ranks 21st on Passan's free-agent list, hasn't been posted to MLB teams yet by his Japanese club, but he's requested that it happen this winter.

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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo