Veteran lefty Dallas Keuchel, who did not sign a contract over the course of the offseason, has continued on a throwing program at his home in Arizona and garnered some level of interest from multiple clubs, Brittany Ghiorli of The Athletic reports. Keuchel’s fastball is currently clocking in the 88-91 mph range, she adds. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported earlier in the month that the Phillies had shown some interest in the left-hander.
Presumably, given the pronounced struggles Keuchel endured in 2021-22, the 35-year-old is viewed primarily as a depth option at this point. The former American League Cy Young winner’s velocity, strikeout rate, walk rate and home run rate all worsened in 2022, as he was tagged for 62 runs in just 60 2/3 innings between the White Sox, D-backs and Rangers. That marked the continuation of a 2021 decline that saw him pitch to a 5.28 ERA in 32 appearances (30 starts) for the White Sox.
Overall, Keuchel’s past two seasons have resulted in a grisly 6.35 ERA over the life of 222 2/3 frames. He’s never been a flamethrower, but the 90.4 mph Keuchel averaged on his sinker at his peak dropped all the way down to 87.4 mph in 2022. His strikeout rate, which sat at 23.7% during his Cy Young season, was down to 14.9% in 2022, while his once-elite walk rate landed at a career-worst 10.2%.
Keuchel had success as recently as 2020, when he pitched to a 1.99 ERA for the ChiSox through 11 starts during the pandemic-shortened season. His strikeouts and velocity were still down considerably from their peak levels that year, but he avoided hard contact at an excellent clip and induced infield pop-ups at the highest rate of his career. Even last season when allowing more than an earned run per inning, Keuchel only yielded hard contact at a slightly above-average clip overall — but the hard contact he did allow was often of the maximum-damage variety and frequently came with runners aboard.
Keuchel took a minor league deal with the D-backs after being released by the White Sox in 2022, and he took another minor league pact in Texas after Arizona released him. He’ll likely need to take another minor league deal and head to Triple-A somewhere if he’s going to break back through to the big league level. There’s minimal risk in seeing if he can maintain his current velocity over the course of a full start and perhaps rebound to some extent. A return to Cy Young form isn’t realistic, but Keuchel did toss 542 2/3 innings of 4.00 ERA ball from 2018-21.
Why though? He’s more washed up than my bar of old spice soap with hair irreversibly stuck in it.
Probably because pitching staffs are thin on starters to begin with and there seems to be a rash of injuries going around the MLB right now.
Future cardinal dumpster dive.
Not if the phillies dumpster dive first.
Wow. Wow! WOW!
Wow-WOW-wow-WOW-wow-WOW! And HOW!
He’s cooked. The fall of him after Houston was very quick
He’s done. You’re better off calling up a young AAAA type pitcher and just hoping for the best.
Which teams are interested in signing him? It doesn’t say which teams even though this is named “Multiple Teams Have Shown Interest In Dallas Keuchul.”
Those six interested teams are:
Fort Wayne Tin Caps
Great Lakes Loons
Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs
Savannah Sand Gnats
Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels
Modesto Nuts
No Gas House Gorillas?
Long Island Ducks
Savannah bananas
Brooklyn Bridesmaids
hey! I like the great lakes loons!
Boras doing what Boras does.
Best song and dance man in baseball.
A team has to be very desperate to consider adding “Hit for the Cycle, Keuchel” to their roster. Their farm systems must be devoid of any pitching prospects ready to make the jump to the majors.
thats why the phillies have entered the chat.
Seems like a Rockies signing to me. They have a history of signing washed up former aces. Anyone remember Roy Oswalt in a Rockies uniform?
Excuse me, hiflew, but no team has a more documented history of signing washed up former aces than the Angels. I’m sure Moreno is telling Minasian to sign him as I type this reply.
Do they beat St Louis cardinal Fernando Valenzuela, St Louis cardinal John Smoltz, or St Louis cardinal Jon Lester?
Rockies had Roy Oswalt, Jon Garland, Jamie Moyer, Denny Neagle (not the same though).
Blanton, Bundy, Harvey, Lincecum, Wilson, Claudio, Buttrey, etc. Granted not all considered aces at one time, but man…
Throw in Hamilton, Pujols, Wells, Cozart, Upton, et al, and that’s a poop sandwich of rotten contracts by the Angels.
I think we can agree that both our teams have signed a lot of formerly great pitchers pitcher that were far less great in our uniforms.
Smoltz and Lester performed well for the Cardinals. So did Chuck Finley.
I agree hiflew.
Your comparing Roy Oswalt to a guy who could barley hit 88…great logic you have it must have highflew past your head.
Greg Maddux had no fastball either. Since when does velocity equal good pitcher?
BTW, you are about the 50th guy that has done that “hiflew past your head” joke, so don’t think you are are being original or clever by saying it.
I watched Maddux handcuff the Padres numerous times in the late 90s. He threw between 89-84 most of the time. Masterful. only the late great Tony Gwynn could figure him out.
I can fill a pitching staff of greats who threw 88 mph regularly
One wonders if Keuchel would be an improvement over Carlos Carrasco on the Mets.
Worst kind of retread. Will throw teammates under the bus the first time he experiences misfortune. And his mommy Karen will go on social media and whine about her boy’s treatment. So it would be really cool to see him end up in Philly. Phillie fans v Karen Keuchel. Let the Hunger Games begin
If you want somebody to toss batting practice Keuchel is your guy. If you’re actually trying to get somebody out you should be looking somewhere else.
Keuchel is washed up. I saw enough of him with the White Sox, he was atrocious, no team should bother giving him a look. Give a Double A pitcher a shot over this guy.
A left handed soft tosser. Cut him already
If I was 35, already made a ton of money, and had a wife like Kelly Nash at home, I would simply enjoy retirement
99 million dollars earned from MLB career, he doesn’t need the 10 years of service time to get the pension, he’ll be just fine retiring now.
Maybe Kelly is working that black Visa card over.
The good life costs. So do hot winimens.
If she really is a high maintenance girl, then Dallas has no one to blame but himself.
I imagine she makes a decent living herself working at both MLB and NHL Network so that shouldn’t be an issue
She sure doesn’t seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer.
So there’s ‘her money’ and ‘their money’.
He rejected the Yanks because he loved his beard.
Now he can go stroke his beard.
With Grecian Formula.
If you get sh!tcanned by a bad Arizona team five minutes after you arrive, you might give the LI Ducks a call.
Quack
Maybe the Padres will sign him. They signed an equally washed up Cole Hamels, lol
$100 million. A dollar a year for 100 million years.
If the Phillies sign Keuchel and Kimbrel in 2023, I may vomit.
If you need someone to give up 6 runs in 2.2 innings of work he’s your guy.
Dallas trying to get those 141 days on a mlb roster to get to 10 years. You almost made it buddy, not gonna happen.
JFK had less trouble with Dallas than any team who would sign this pitcher.
Why?
He’d dominate in Coors. 5 innings 10.80 ERA career.
For any GM to even briefly consider the possibility of offering Keuchel a minor league deal is an act of desperation. Kooch is so bad the dumpster rejected him.
Cue the kid GM in Cincinnati.
“Even last season when allowing more than an earned run per inning, Keuchel only yielded hard contact at a slightly above-average clip overall…”
Sometimes it sounds like these PSAs are written by the players’ agents.
Andrew Friedman will be all over this guy!
Only a matter of time until the Rays pick him up and he puts up a 2.50 ERA in 90 innings as a starter/reliever.
Normally I’d agree, but I don’t know if you have seen Keuchel’s work last year, but he was horrendous for the White Sox. A literal miracle would have to be done by the Rays to fix that hot mess.
Why?
at this point he should be staying home and playing with Kelly Nash
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should
Keuchel looked all but finished last year. I can understand a team willing to take a flyer though as there is always a GM and a pitching coach that believes they can fix anyone. Perhaps a trip through the Rays pitching machine could resuscitate Keuchel’s career
There were about 9% more strikeouts in 2022 over 2015, when he won his CY. His arm strength has declined since then. He had a WHIP over 2 last year after have a WHIP over 1.5 the year before. Maybe there’s something there, but, especially for those teams that would have to make a 40 man roster spot…
Ran into Dallas at Burger King in Chicago a few days ago. He was behind me in line and treated me to a whopper with a large Dr Pepper. I told him I wanted cheese on my burger which is extra and he said no problem ! What a class guy. We did talk baseball and word is the Cubs and Brewers are scouting him. Wow who would have thought.
Wouldn’t shock me if the Braves are eyeballing him with the current stage of their rotation. Honestly, if KW comes back looking rough and these rookies keep looking shady, I’d be happy to have him
Dodgers or Yankees signing written all over it. Those 2 teams are obsessed with signing washed-up has-beens who basically have no chance of contributing anything worthy of discussion. The Yankees set the standard of that trend and the Dodgers have been trying hard to copy that for years and years and years at this point.
I sure miss the days when you didn’t have to throw 95mph just to make it to the big leagues.
He’s done! Phillies please stay away!
Why would a team bother? He has been absolutely brutal for several years now. I’m talking 1.1 IP 9 hits 8 runs type bad. Not one trace of even a quality inning. Are GMs this dumb?