{"id":39385,"date":"2022-06-06T20:34:49","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T20:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/diamondbacks-sign-dallas-keuchel-mlb-trade-rumors\/"},"modified":"2022-06-06T20:34:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T20:34:49","slug":"diamondbacks-sign-dallas-keuchel-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/diamondbacks-sign-dallas-keuchel-mlb-trade-rumors\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamondbacks Sign Dallas Keuchel – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The D-backs have agreed to terms on a minor league contract with free agent lefty Dallas Keuchel<\/strong>reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link<\/a>). He’ll head to Triple-A for the time being but he has an eventual opt-out date worked into the deal if he’s not added to the MLB roster by that time. Keuchel is represented by the Boras Corporation.<\/p>\n

It’s a no-risk deal for the D-backs, who’ll owe only the prorated league minimum to Keuchel for any time spent in the Majors. The remaining balance of his $ 18MM salary will still be paid by the White Sox, who released him late last month. The Sox are also still on the hook for the $ 1.5MM buyout on Keuchel’s 2023 option.<\/p>\n

Keuchel is headed to the minors for now, but the new agreement reconnects him with D-backs pitching coach Brent Strom, who was Keuchel’s pitching coach during his peak years with the Astros. At least for now, the two won’t be working side-by-side on a daily basis with Strom on the big league staff, but the connection quite likely played a role in the mutual interest between player and team.<\/p>\n

The 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner, Keuchel was a force atop the Houston rotation from 2014-18, pitching to a 3.28 ERA with a 20.2% strikeout rate, a strong 6.4% walk rate and a sky-high 60% ground-ball rate over the life of 950 1\/3 innings. That included his standout 2015 campaign, wherein Keuchel paced the American League in wins (20), shutouts (two) and innings pitched (232) – all while pitching to a career-best 2.48 ERA. He hasn’t replicated that success since, but that was one of three sub-3.00 ERAs that Keuchel posted in a four-year span.<\/p>\n

Despite the impressive resume with Houston, Keuchel’s first trip through the free-agent process didn’t pan out as hoped. Saddled with the burden of draft-pick compensation after rejecting a qualifying offer from the Astros, Keuchel wound up waiting until after the 2019 draft to sign a prorated one-year deal with the Braves. (In waiting that long, he shed the draft-pick compensation provision.)<\/p>\n

It was a surprising scene, likely due to a combination of multiple factors. The draft compensation undoubtedly played a role, and Keuchel surely hit the market with lofty multi-year goals that many teams found unreasonable. He’d also had multiple IL stints since that Cy Young year and reached the market on the heels of a 2018 season that saw him post his lowest strikeout and ground-ball rates since his 2012 rookie season.<\/p>\n

Keuchel still reeled in a prorated $ 20MM salary on that deal (about $ 13MM), and he pitched well down the stretch with Atlanta. In 112 2\/3 frames that year, he notched a 3.75 ERA with a revitalized 60.1% grounder rate. It was enough for the White Sox to guarantee Keuchel $ 55.5MM on a three-year deal as they emerged from a lengthy rebuilding effort.<\/p>\n

The first season of that deal proved to be an overwhelming success, as Keuchel turned in a career-best 1.99 ERA over 11 starts (63 1\/3 innings) during the Covid-shortened 2020 season. Keuchel got out to a strong start in Year Two of the deal as well, logging a 3.78 ERA through his first 14 starts of the season, but he fell into a disastrous slump shortly thereafter and has yet to really recover.<\/p>\n

Keuchel has made 24 starts since June 20 of last year, allowing runs in 23 of them. During that time, he’s pitched to a 7.02 ERA with a bottom-of-the-barrel 12.4% strikeout rate against an elevated 10.2% walk rate. He’s still inducing grounders at a better-than-average 52.2% clip, but that’s a good ways off from his peak levels di lui. It also bears mention that Keuchel has averaged just 87.8 mph on his heater during that span – nearly three miles per hour slower than the 90.4 mph he averaged during that Cy Young-winning season.<\/p>\n

Arizona’s top four starters this season have been anywhere from solid to excellent, as each of Zac Gallen<\/strong> (2.40 ERA), Madison Bumgarner<\/strong> (3.31), Merrill Kelly<\/strong> (3.66) and Zach Davies<\/strong> (4.18) have made at least 10 starts and totaled at least 54 innings. The fifth spot has been more of a challenge to fill. Luke Weaver<\/strong> moved to the bullpen earlier in the year and hit the injured list not long after. Humberto Castellanos<\/strong> (nine starts), Tyler Gilbert<\/strong> (tw0) and Caleb Smith<\/strong> (one – which was only one inning) have made the remainder of the team’s starts and generally fared poorly. Castellanos recently hit the injured list with an elbow strain.<\/p>\n

Keuchel will give the D-backs some depth to slot in behind that group. He’ll join fellow big league veteran Dan Straily<\/strong>who has struggled on a minor league deal of his own following a big showing in South Korea, as a non-roster player down in Reno. The Snakes also have the aforementioned Gilbert, righty Luis Frias<\/strong> and former top prospect Corbin Martin<\/strong> on the 40-man roster as options down in Triple-A.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n