| Johnny Pesky Jersey , Dallas Keuchel is a free agent to watch.If velocity isn't everything, Keuchel is a free agent worth tracking.If past success means anything, well, name another pitcher on this winter's market who has a Cy Young Award on his ledger. CC Sabathia is more than a decade removed from his 2007 Cy Young and will celebrate his 39th birthday in the middle of next season. Maybe you want to count Clayton Kershaw, butafter he and the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed Wednesday night to extend the deadline for him to opt out of hiscontract, it seems more and more like he'drather just stay where he is.Keuchel will turn 31 on New Year's Day. He won his Cy Young only three years ago. There's a good chancehe'll leave the Houston Astros as a free agent this winter. And while he hasn't been in the Cy Young conversation since 2015, he did have a 3.23 ERA in 20 starts from June 16 to the end of the season. He also went five innings in his two postseason starts, giving up two earned runs on four hits each time.By today's standards, those have to count as quality starts, right?Keuchel started the All-Star Game in 2015, the year he won the Cy Young Award.Mark Cunningham/Getty ImagesOnly four pitchers made at least two starts this October and finished at least five innings in each of them. Two of those Verlander and Gerrit Cole Keuchel's teammates with the Houston Astros. Neither of them is a free agent this winter, although the Astros might think about trying to sign Cole to a long-term deal.The other two are Keuchel and Nathan Eovaldi, whose outstanding postseason has vaulted him up the list of free-agent starters.Eovaldi is one of the hardest throwers in the game, with a fastball that averaged 97.1 mph in 2018, according to MLB.com's Statcast. Keuchel's fastball averaged 89.3 mph, which may once have been considered average but ranked 298th among starters in 2018.In an era where nearly every hitter is trying to lift the ball http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-carl-yastrzemski-jersey , Keuchel was the only starter who got twice as many ground balls as fly balls, according to FanGraphs. In an era when managers are hesitant to let starters go deep into games, he was one of only 13 starters to pitch at least 200 innings. In an era where players regularly head to the disabled list, he was one of only three pitchers to make 34 or more starts (Verlander and Jhoulys Chacin of the Milwaukee Brewers were the other two).And no matter what you think about using an opener and redefining roles, those things should still matter. They make Keuchel valuable, and they give his agent, Scott Boras, plenty to sell to teams in need of starting pitching.Isn't that just about every team?It may not be the Astros, the only team Keuchel has pitched for. Jon Heyman of Fancred reported Mondaythat the Astros plan to extend Keuchel the $17.9 million qualifying offer, but they seem unlikely to give him the big contract he will seek. With Verlander, Cole and Lance McCullers Jr. coming back, they don't have as big of a need for him as other teams might.While it may be hard to sell Keuchel as the ace he was in 2015 had 20 wins, a 2.48 ERA and pitched 232 innings that season still looks good compared to most of the other starters on this winter's market.Eovaldi could be a popular choice, but could you count on him staying healthy through a long-term contract? Patrick Corbin will rank ahead of Keuchel, but this was the first time since 2013 he has been able to throw 200 innings, making him a risk. Hyun-Jin Ryu? He had a 1.97 ERA Ted Williams Jersey , but he pitched only 82.1 innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers.J.A. Happ? Gio Gonzalez? Neither of them can match Keuchel's track record of success.If a team has a great rotation, Keuchel ideally would be a third or fourth starter. That's what he was with the Astros this year.Keuchel debuted with the Astros in 2012, when they were a National League team headed for 103 losses. By 2017, he was holding the World Series trophy with Jose Altuve.Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesBut how many teams have three starters better than him? How many have two? Or even one?Even for teams that would like to follow the lead of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers and redefine the role of starting pitcher, someone needs to eat up innings. Then again, based on the way Keuchel talked about new pitching strategies during a postseason news conference, he may not be the right guy for those teams."I don't like it at all," Keuchel said. "I think it's kind of a fad. And I mean if you're trying to win one or two games, I can see where you would try it out. But through the course of the whole season, you're going to get some guys hurt who aren't used to throwing as much. That's why starters are built to go six, seven innings, eight innings, and relievers are one-inning, maybe two-inning guys."So you can't couple six or seven relievers in one game and expect them to last 162 games. That's just not the way it is."Keuchel was a five-inning guy in the postseason, but he was a six- or seven-inning guy for much of the season. There's no reason he can't be that for whichever team signs him this winter.Even in this era of openers, initial out-getters and bullpen games Jim Rice Jersey , that should be worth quite a bit. Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball. BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles want fans to understand their 2019 season isn’t necessarily about making the playoffs.For a franchise focused on the future, the most important “P” word is patience.New general manager Mike Elias and rookie manager Brandon Hyde cautioned Saturday there will be no quick fix for a team that underwent a complete overhaul during and after the worst season in Orioles history.The roster was gutted in July, and vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter were subsequently dismissed in November after Baltimore staggered to a 47-115 finish.Sitting side-by-side on a stage at FanFest — the annual winter event for the team’s ardent backers — Elias and Hyde cautioned the turnaround may not be quick. They explained the goal this year is to further the rebuilding process.“Our priority is to raise the overall talent base in the organization,” Elias told the crowd. “This isn’t going to be an immediate reward.”The message was a departure from the previous six years, when Duquette and Showalter spoke enthusiastically about reaching the postseason.Now it’s up to Elias and Hyde to assemble a team capable of bringing Baltimore its first World Series victory since 1983.“There’s an economic structure. There’s nothing we can do to just flip a switch and get back to the playoffs immediately,” Elias said. “I hope it happens this year, but we’re going to have to build a sustainable base of talent for this organization.”Elias and Hyde are quite familiar with the rebuilding process, which is exactly why they’re together in Baltimore.“Brandon went through this with the Cubs, and I went through this with the Astros. Both of those rebuilding processes went incredibly fast,” Elias said. “I can’t say that’s always going to be the case with these things.”Fans appear to be on board. Many of the estimated 8,000 people in the Baltimore Convention Center seemed thrilled over the prospect of seeing a young team develop before their eyes.“It’s just as many people that always come here, and everybody is really excited,” outfielder Trey Mancini said.Though Orioles fans loved Showalter, they’ve been quick to embrace his successor.“I’ve been overwhelmed with positive comments, and people have been really, really nice http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-nomar-garciaparra-jersey ,” said Hyde, formerly the Cubs bench coach. “I know our players are unbelievable energized. There’s a sense of, we want to be really good. Whatever that timeline is, I can’t tell you. But I think we’ve taken really good steps so far.”Elias hasn’t done anything significant in free agency, but he didn’t dismiss the possibility of getting involved in the weeks ahead.“We’re monitoring everything,” he said. “We’ve got some ideas in mind for what might make sense for what we’re trying to do for improving the club this year and possibly advancing some of our longer-term strategic goals.”Not even Adam Jones is off the table. Jones pretty much said farewell to Baltimore in the season finale last year, but the outfielder remains a free agent and Elias didn’t dismiss the notion of a return.“Our focus is on elevating the capabilities of this organization and the talent level of this organization. I’ve got to keep sight of that,” Elias said. “But we’re looking for ways to be opportunistic and shrewd with the players that are left unsigned right now. We’re just going to have to see how things play out.”The Orioles are so young now, Mancini is considered to be a veteran despite having only two years of experience.“Toward the end of the year, a lot of guys were coming up to me and asking what they should do with their 401k plan,” Mancini said. “I was asking people that same question the year before.” |
