Braves to sign Dallas Keuchel

9:02 p.m.: Keuchel's contract is indeed a year, according to Tim Brown, Yahoo (Twitter link). He will receive $ 13 million by the end of the season, which is a little more than the $ 11.16 million he had obtained with a pro rata transaction of an amount equivalent to the qualifying offer $ 17.9 million. (Jeff Passan from ESPN added that his base salary is technically about $ 20 million, and the $ 13 million represents the prorated version of that sum.) Keuchel will take a physical start tomorrow, and he will get into the fray with Triple- At Gwinnett when he will start there. the Saturday.

8:18 p.m.: The Braves accepted the terms with the southpaw Dallas Keuchel, reports David O'Brien of The Athletic (Twitter link). O'Brien adds that it is "probably" a one-year contract. Keuchel is represented by the Boras company.

As was the case with Craig KimbrelKeuchel will see his extended saga of free agents come to an end a few days after the lifting of the mediator's compensation. The terms of the deal will surely be only a fraction of what the former Cy Young winner had envisioned by rejecting a $ 17.9 million Qualifying Offer from the Astros in November, but a short-term arrangement will allow Keuchel to test again free agency – this time without the burden of a qualifying offer and probably with lower expectations; Keuchel and Boras would have looked for a five-year contract and more than $ 100 million at the beginning of free competition.

Keuchel, 31, has seen his results decline since his brilliant Cy Young campaign in 2015, but he remains a quality arm that should provide stability needed for a rotation of Braves that has not worked as expected (or near). ) in 2019. Top starter Mike Foltynewicz missed several weeks to open the season and suffered a lot on his return from the list of injured, while Sean Newcomb was moved to the paddock and Kevin Gausman crawls around a 6.15 ERA. Julio Tehran has shown strong financial results, but independent pitching measures predict it as a candidate for regression.

Mike Soroka was by far the best starter, placing himself not only in the Rookie of the Year race, but also in the Cy Young race at the start of the season. Soroka, however, recorded 56 1/3 innings between the majors and the miners last season and thinks he has some workload strain in front of him. Lefty Max Fried also emerged as a largely solid option, but he only threw 111 innings and was able to see his own innings monitored later in the year.

Last season, Keuchel had 204 2/3 innings while working at an ERA of 3.74 with 6.7 K / 9, 2.6 BB / 9, 0.79 HR / 9 and a ball rate 53.7% on the ground. Keuchel's attack and ground-ball rates have fallen in recent seasons, particularly in 2018, and he also saw his two 2016-17 seasons shortened a bit by his injuries. All of this has taken some of the left-handed brilliance, but it's also a fact that he has averaged less than 3.00 points in three of the past five seasons. Even when launching his Cy Young campaign, Keuchel has an average of 3.77 points with a superior ground ball rate and above-average control since his 518 1/3.

Based on this experience, there is no doubt that it will be an outclass for the Braves, especially if it is considering replacing the one that will likely be replaced. In this situation, Gausman seems to be the stranger, as he has had some difficult times during the worst season of his career and could very well be related to Bullpen. If he manages to succeed in this presumed new presumptive role, the benefit for the Braves would be double. not only would they have another quality arm in the pen, they would also have a starter deeper into the games (Keuchel) and therefore would not force the concealer as often.

Keuchel has sparked interest elsewhere in the league, with the Yankees being cited as aggressive pursuers. However, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Yankees had a very clear offer and did not want to go further than paying Keuchel the proportional share of the qualifying bid of $ 17.9 million (Twitter link). This base salary would have paid Keuchel about $ 11.16 million until the end of the season – assuming an agreement would be concluded tomorrow. Cardinals, twins and rays have all been mentioned as interested parties, to varying degrees, although Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets that Tampa Bay has never been so strong after the southpaw. Instead, these teams will have to turn to the trading market to find rotational improvements, with Keuchel being the only realistic difference maker in the free market.

The Braves, too, continue to be active in the trading market. Even after adding Keuchel to the rotation, the counter in Atlanta was fragile and could still be improved. The team relied on Luke Jackson in the ninth inning, as well as many converted entries and a series of inexpensive flyers on Veterans (eg. Jerry Blevins, Anthony Swarzak). Newcomb played this role well, as did Touki ToussaintThis makes the situation a bit less serious, but it would still be a surprise if the Braves do not add at least one more reliable arm to the relief corps. Keuchel is perhaps Atlanta's biggest addition by July 31, but he is unlikely to be the only one.