MLB rumors: Why Yankees won't rush to sign Dallas Keuchel

by Felix Pantaleón

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is shopping for starting pitching. There are several options available in free agency, including Houston Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel, Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin and Boston Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman knows he needs to upgrade his starting rotation for 2019. There are several options available to him in free agency, including Houston Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel, Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin and Boston Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.

MLB.com’s Jim Duquette, the former Mets general manager, lists five free agents who could linger on the open market.

At the top of his list is Keuchel. Here’s why:

Given that he is not overly reliant on high velocity, he’s a good bet to age relatively gracefully. That said, we saw last year with Jake Arrieta that teams might not give long-term deals to pitchers a couple of years removed from their peak seasons. Arrieta still got a high average annual value ($25 million), but only three years.

It remains to be seen if last year was an aberration or a new trend. Multiple teams have interest in Keuchel, but teams are acutely aware that his strikeout rate dropped from 23.7 percent in his American League Cy Young Award-winning 2015 to 17.5 percent last season, while his ground-ball rate went from 61.7 percent to 53.7. Additionally, the available supply of left-handers could be a factor as well, with Patrick Corbin, J.A. Happ, Gio Gonzalez and Wade Miley joining Keuchel as free agents, as well as Japanese southpaw Yusei Kukuchi, who is set to be posted. Additionally impacting the starting-pitcher market is the possibility of James Paxton, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and maybe even Madison Bumgarner being available via trade.

Likely suitors: Astros, Yankees, Nationals

12 Cashman takeaways

The 30-year-old Kuechel, a two-time All-Star who won the 2015 American League Cy Young Award, has won at least 12 games in four of the last five seasons.

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