Reports say Atlanta Braves in ‘serious talks’ for 2015 Cy Young winner

According to reports, the Atlanta Braves are now the frontrunners to land the 2015 American League Cy Young winner.

It was widely speculated that after the draft pick compensation tied to Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel passed, then both would quickly be signed.  While one of these free agents has headed to the friendly confines, the Atlanta Braves are looking seriously at adding the other.

Kimbrel signed a three-year, $43 million dollar deal with the Chicago Cubs yesterday and reports come today that Keuchel might be nearing a deal as well.

The team? The Atlanta Braves.

Early Thursday afternoon, MLB Executive Reporter and Insider Mark Feisnand tweeted that the Braves were now the frontrunners to land Keuchel.

Not to long after, Paul Crane of The Scout’s Honor podcast tweeted out that the deal was “almost done” and Keuchel’s agent, Scott Boras, had turned down the New York Yankees one-year, pro-rated offer.

Then early this evening, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic confirmed the Braves are indeed in contract negotiations with Keuchel.

Jon Heyman also makes note that there’s a possibility of a multi-year component in the Braves’ negotiations.

This makes sense given that Keuchel is sticking with a desire to keep this season’s compensation (pro-rated as it might be) in line with the terms of a Qualifying Offer level.

Joel Sherman (via MLB Trade Rumors) picks up the point:

"As Sherman points out, even the prorated version of the $17.9MM qualifying offer value checks in close to $11.5MM, and few teams have that type of money budgeted this time of year. The Braves, for instance, are “uncomfortable” with that price point, per Sherman, while the Yankees are unlikely to exceed it, George A. King III of the New York Post writes."

A way to resolve this would be to lower the annual compensation, but to extend the guarantee… to an additional season or 2.  That could be the separator that gets Keuchel to Georgia.

Obvious need

For as much as Braves fans wanted to sign Craig Kimbrel due to the bullpen woes and nostalgia, Keuchel is the obvious need for a rotation that has young impressive arms combined with a couple of struggling veterans.

Not sure if you watched the last two games in Pittsburgh, but Kevin Gausman and Mike Foltynewicz left so much to be concerned about, Gausman in particular, who has given up 15 runs over his last two starts (six innings).

While Foltynewicz settled into a groove after giving up a three-spot in the second inning today, his past two starts have been suspect after seemingly righting the ship the two starts before that.

Mike Soroka and to a lesser extent Max Fried have proven reliable as young anchors to the rotation, but they are still really young and who knows how many innings they can throw this season.

And then there is Julio Teheran, whose numbers are okay, but his track record over the past two seasons are not great.

That’s why the Braves have to make a play for a starting pitcher and the Keuchel rumors, which have been ongoing for over a week, make so much sense.

Last season, Keuchel, who is 31 years old, went 12-11 with a 3.74 ERA in 34 starts for the Astros.

He was the No. 3 starter on a team that had World Series aspirations.

His postseason record is 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and he has made nine starts in the playoffs, including two in the World Series.

Keuchel is just the guy this staff needs.

Houston connection

An interesting aspect to the Braves being tied to Keuchel is his connection to catcher Brian McCann. They played together in Houston for two seasons.

That comfort and familiarity with McCann is most certainly an advantage that other teams do not possess.

The Braves have been reluctant to commit multiple years to free agents, because they claim to want “financial flexibility” (drink!).

So the connection to Keuchel made even more sense when he claimed he would be willing to take a one-year deal… though ironically, there are now the reports that even this point might be negotiable.

Looking for a Finish Line

It has been speculated the Braves have at least $15 million available to make in-season trades and it seems unlikely Keuchel would take up all of that money.

The Braves have been mentioned as front-runners for so many players recently, yet nothing really has come of it.

It’s time for that to change.