Is Dallas Keuchel on the Padres’ Christmas wish list?
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The San Diego Padres need pitching help, and Dallas Keuchel could be a viable option for the team.
The 2019-20 MLB free-agent market was once considered pitching-deep, but that is not the case anymore as several players have found new homes before the holiday season.
Stephen Strasburg and Gerrit Cole are gone. Each pitcher secured a payday well over $200 million with their new contracts. Madison Bumgarner and Zack Wheeler were also paid heftily for their services this winter. These four men were considered the best options on the open market as far as starting pitching goes.
Despite a glaring need, the Padres have yet to make any significant addition to their pitching roster.
Zach Davies was swapped from the Brewers for Eric Lauer, and that is an upgrade. Drew Pomeranz signed with the Padres, and that will be an upgrade for the bullpen as well. But where is the ace that the fan base has been clamoring for? A.J. Preller and his staff may have a trick or two up their sleeve before the season starts, but it seems more likely the team will start the 2020 season with what they currently have.
An ace may not be attainable at this point, so the team will need to restructure their thoughts.
If the Padres wish to add a veteran pitcher to the squad to eat innings and possibly provide some mentorship to the young staff, Dallas Keuchel could be a perfect fit in San Diego. The free-agent is available and has drawn some interest of late as the market is starting to move in his direction. He will find work this season as a compensatory pick is not attached to his name like last winter. He is free to sign with no restraints and will probably do so in the coming weeks.
The lefty played for $13 million last year in Atlanta after signing late in the season as the June draft concluded. Keuchel is looking for a multiple-year deal and should get that as he was productive in 2019 for the Braves. The Scott Boras’ client showed a lot of heart pitching in Atlanta last year.
Keuchel finished the 2019 year with an 8-8 record, 3.75 ERA, and a 1.367 WHIP in 112.2 innings pitched. Not overly impressive, but the pitcher performed well in a season full of challenges. He helped solidify a young Braves’ team as they rolled into the playoffs. He justified his paycheck and should have no problem doing that in 2020 and beyond.
The 2015 AL Cy Young-Award winner will be 32 next season and is not considered a young pitcher by any stretch of the imagination. He has pitched in the Major Leagues for eight years, putting up an 84-71 record with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.260 WHIP. Dallas Keuchel is not the same pitcher he once was, but he is a reliable option for a team looking for veteran leadership. The Padres could get plenty of mileage out of the southpaw as they build towards relevancy. There have only been whispers surrounding Keuchel so far this spring, but in the coming weeks, the chatter is sure to grow into a significant talk. As this happens- the Padres are sure to be right in the middle of it all.
James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.
This might not be our year of contention. The kids need inning start the major level. Experience and working with the new pitching coach. With our payroll as it is, I’m not wanting to pay Dallas money to eat innings or get an extra win or three.
Besides, this bad contract swap with Boston seems possible. I’d rather have Price for a year or two than Keuchel. Extra money and I hope it doesn’t happen but…
Let’s give Meyers a year of new manager and consistent playing time. Maybe he plays himself into someone substantial or is more valuable at the deadline.
Myers >>> Hosmer.
If they could trade Hosmer this would immediately make this team much better.
Agreed, he is probably out of the Padres price range and may not be able to give us the innings we need to help the young staff. Teheran or Kim would have been good one year contracts but other teams have already signed them. If Preller goes and trades Myers for Price, I really hope they do not give up Patino or Gore. Maybe Morejon or Espinoza back to them! But the rich Red Sox would need to include millions, say at least $30m. My guess, Preller is done with the moves because no other team will make a trade without wanting our can’t miss prospects. Okay with me. Let the kids play! Go Pads!
You might want to investigate the Price Myers swap. If it’s a straight up swap on money alone its 96M Price v. 67M for Myers. Even better for Boston is AAV is what the luxury threshold is figured on so Myers is 14.8M instead of 32M of Price. Third the 17M savings per season isnt gona get Boston under the threshold but that is 17M less they have to pay a penalty on which adds even more value. In short a straight up swap would purge Myers and require nothing else from San Diego. Gore and Patino are going to be Padres within 12 months. Espinoza cant be traded hurt and wont be healthy until 2021. Even then he is coming off 2 TJs and has zero value until he can show health. Morejon needs to start back in Amarillo or El Paso and show he is healthy as well. If Boston is looking for an arm to go back it would be a Quantrill, Bolanos, even a Perdomo or Strahm. The 30M difference in salary San Diego would be taking on is no difference to eating 10M a season that Fowler has said they would do.
Where Keuchel makes sense is if they decide to roll with Myers, Kuechel would be that veteran TOR type (grading on a Padres scale), no injury risk, ground ball pitcher who has been there and done that. The payroll would be in the 160ish range in 2020 but would go back down to the target 140 range in 2021. He will also insurance for Lamet and Richatds coming off injury and allow for more time before jumping into Gore and Patino
A rotation for the next 4 yrs would be the best in over a decade and isnt far off a rotation with Price (minus 30M and the injury risk)
Keuchel
Lamet
Paddack
Gore
Patino
Go with youth over Keuchel. Time to test them and evaluate at the next level.
Why pay a lot of money to a pitcher who is declining, well past 30, and is, at best, roughly equivalent to the pitcher he would replace? In fact, I’d much rather have Lucchesi, for a variety of reasons.
Dallas will want multi year deal. No need to commit money to Dallas.