The Atlanta Braves have reportedly agreed to a one year contract with starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel. The deal is reportedly a one-year deal with the financial amount not officially reported yet. The Braves entered the mix a while back, but were announced as frontrunners earlier in the day on Thursday. David O’Brien of The Athletic Atlanta first reported the two sides coming to an agreement.
#Braves have agreed to terms with left-hander Dallas Keuchel, sources tell The Athletic.
Likely a one-year deal, but working to confirm that.— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) June 7, 2019
The holdout is now over for both Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel who agreed to a contract with the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday after the 2019 MLB Draft completed. The two both held out of signing contracts this fall in a form of protest over unfair wages. In a simplistic sense, they both thought they were worth way more than the offers they were getting from teams was.
In 2018, Keuchel saw a bit more of a regression from Cy Young version of himself. Keuchel featured a 12-11 record with a 3.74 ERA, a 1.31 WHIP, only striking out 153 batters through 204.2 innings thrown for the Astros. Keuchel has not really returned to the Cy Young level of pitching that he was at, but he is still a solid pitcher that will fit in perfect with the Braves rotation.
The Braves current rotation could use a little extra beef maybe shifting Kevin Gausman or Mike Soroka to the bullpen. Foltynewicz has had a rough start to the season and adding Keuchel allows them to bring in a better arm to beef up the rotation as they look to make a big push within the division and hopefully deep into the playoffs.
