YANKEES SCOUT KEUCHEL, NOW WHAT?

The Yankees have some holes in their rotation and as Dallas Keuchel's value increases, so does the Yankees interest. Next week the free agent will have a job, you can bet on it. Question is, will that job be with the Yankees? Maybe.

The Yankees are looking at their options at this point as every contending team should be. An interested team can sign him after Midnight next Monday without worrying about losing a precious draft pick. All he will cost is money at that point. Sounds silly to say that all he costs is money but it is true. If teams didn't have to sacrifice a draft pick he would've signed with a team in the winter. So if the Yankees decide they want him, all they have to do is decide that they want to spend the extra money. We all know they have plenty of that.

And maybe they should spend the money. The Yankees have endured a lot this season, but when you look at the starting rotation getting hit with injuries now it wouldn't hurt to have another arm. Hopefully we get good news about James Paxton returning this week but he may deal with discomfort for the rest of the season, read more HERE. Then the Yankees still have CC Sabathia to still worry about. He recently got a cortisone shot and lubricant in his surgically repaired knee, which is a scary thought. We also have Luis Severino still out and hopefully his rehab continues to progress and we get him back shortly after the All-Star break. Fingers crossed.

That's a lot of injuries to consider. So we shouldn't be surprised to hear that the Yankees did scout Keuchel this weekend in California, read more HERE. There have been rumors on why the Yankees have not seriously pursued Keuchel before, HERE is an example of a good one. The Yankees do love their power pitchers. Keuchel has been known to be a ground ball / strike out pitcher which in my book is a GREAT thing to have at Yankee stadium BUT not when ground ball and strike out rates are on the decline. Even so....Keuchel could still be a valuable asset to the Yankees.

I think the Yankees are at the point where even if they aren't sold on the declining Keuchel, we are at the point where the Yankees should be taking a harder second look. J.A. Happ is not the same guy we saw last year. He definitely looks like he is in a decline. The Yankees have struck gold with Domingo German, but you have to wonder how many innings they are going to let him pitch. He's young, and last year he pitched 85.2 innings, his highest ever. It's likely they are going to hut him down between 130-150 innings.

There's still a lot of baseball left this season, but there are enough concerns between workload limits and injury concerns that adding more rotation depth seems like a necessity at this point. The Yankees may not have ever been "all-in" with Keuchel, but he is the best option out there with a growing need for pitching and the easiest move to make. Oh and the Rays are reportedly interested in him too so, there's that. It would be nice to keep him away from them.

I guess we will wait and see what happens.....but maybe Keuchel will become a reality after all.

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