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Monday, December 31, 2018

DALLAS KEUCHEL HAS MANY SUITORS, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE YANKEES?


All winter I have been watching Dallas Keuchel and waiting to see what kind of deal he gets. While others are on Manny Machado watch...I'm over it. Actually, I don't think I was ever really in it. I'm all about the pitching. I was hoping Santa was going to bring me another starting pitcher for Christmas and not necessarily Keuchel. Maybe I wasn't good enough. Or maybe the Yankees just don't think any other pitchers are good enough.


Who knows. The only thing I do know at this point is that Keuchel is still available, and someone should snatch him up soon, or eventually. Once Keuchel realizes that he isn't the 5-year / $100 million dollar deal he is hoping to get and more likely to get a deal similar to what Jake Arrieta got last year.

Keuchel has interest from "at least" eight teams, read more HERE, none of those teams were ever rumored to be the Yankees. I've never been interested in giving Keuchel a five-year deal. I just don't think he is worth that kind of commitment, especially not after signing J.A. Happ at a max of three years. But why not Keuchel at three years or even an option for a fourth if needed? I'm sure teams would be comfortable with three to four, but not five.

On paper the Yankees have five starters, but you can never have too much pitching. Maybe I am still thinking about this because I am not completely sold on the rotation. I like the addition of James Paxton, but aside from that the Yankees have the same rotation. Hopefully that's enough to make the Yankees successful again in 2019.


Keuchel is an attractive option for teams because he is an accomplished pitcher. He was the 2015 AL Cy Young winner, 2017 World Series Champion and a good ground ball pitcher. As attractive as that looks, he's also pretty inconsistent.  He's not the same pitcher from 2015 when he won 20 games. Last season he went 12-11 in 34 starts and had several occasions where he had issues pitching out of the first inning. He hasn't been the same pitcher since 2015, that guy would be worth a five-year deal if he maintained those numbers the last three seasons, but this Keuchel is not worth five years. If I were an interested team, I would be leery also.

It will be interesting to see what kind of deal Keuchel will get. I think he's risky and he's asking for too much, but would you expect anything less with a Scott Boras client?



--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj





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