Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Dallas Keuchel is added, but will there be more to come?

The Atlanta Braves already have the offense that should be able to hang with most contenders.  Keuchel’s presence should certainly help on the pitching side… but will he be enough?

It’s a deal – a big deal – that the Atlanta Braves have landed former Cy Young award winner Dallas Keuchel.  But what are the downstream ramifications that should be expected over the next days, weeks, and months?

Is there still more to come?

The first shoe to drop involves the current rotation, and it’s most likely involving the cleats of Kevin Gausman.

While he started with a couple of sneezes, his month of May turned into full-blown pneumonia by comparison:

• Opposition batters hitting .304
• 6.48 ERA
• 13 walks in 25 innings
• a WHIP of 1.76

Wednesday’s outing vs. Pittsburgh was the final straw that made Atlanta push that extra bit to land Keuchel:  5 innings, 12 hits, and 7 earned runs.  The prior start was arguably worse:  8 earned runs in a scant single inning (officially).

Dallas Keuchel will have some hiccups of his own as works through his own rust, but even in a “down” year of 2018, he posted nearly 205 innings and yielded more than 4 earned runs in only 7 of 34 starts… in the American League’s slugger nation of teams.

That’s 1…

Before this news broke, I had been mulling the timing of all this.

Keuchel suddenly became “cheaper” this week thanks to draft compensation no longer being a factor (sorry, Houston), yet the Atlanta Braves still had to decide which was the better course of action:  a free agent signing or a trade?

The trade avenue would involve players like Madison Bumgarner or Marcus Stroman or maybe even a Corey Kluber (thanks to Cleveland’s woebegone season of miscalculation).

Trouble is, Keuchel wouldn’t wait until mid-July when the seller clubs open for business.  And there’s no one else available for ‘only’ cash.

Well… how about a free agent signing and a trade?

Atlanta is about to have a rotation that looks like this:

• Mike Soroka
• Dallas Keuchel
• Mike Foltynewicz
• Max Fried
• Julio Teheran

Here’s the trick… those last three names (at least lately, given Fried’s last 2 outings) aren’t screaming ‘consistency’.

There’s also the issue of innings limitations where Soroka and Fried might have to tag-team down the strength as they enter uncharted territories.

Then there’s also… still… the bullpen, which could definitely use an additional fireman.

We’ve spoken at length at various times in these pages about the chances of a ‘package’ deal with the likes of Toronto or San Francisco specifically.  That still remains a viable possibility.

Today is Blooper Day

It’s the day that Blooper runs out onto the field, hopefully sees his shadow, and then hides for another 6 weeks of Summer.

The next 6 weeks is going to be vital.

This move to get Keuchel buys Atlanta roughly 6 weeks to find out the following:

• Who is going to step up?
• Who needs a break?
• Will this team truly come together and surge ahead?

The Braves also should be able to get a jump on their rivals as well, having around 4 weeks (hopefully) of Keuchel starts that others won’t have whilst we all wait for the ‘trade season’ to actually begin.

At that time – mid-July – the buyers and seller will be clearly established and the wheeling and dealing will commence in earnest.  The Braves will then know whether they have enough pitching or if they need to get more.

I suspect the latter.

Keuchel needs to pitch well for this scheme to work.  Not just for the Braves, but for himself as well.  It actually makes great sense for him to sign with Atlanta and then go back out onto the market this Winter:

• Extreme ground ball pitcher
• Great defense behind him.  FIP would scream, but his ERA will smile.
• Benefits of the National League (one less ‘hitter’)
• Relatively favorable ballpark (as opposed to some of these American League venues)

So Keuchel should not only be well-motivated, he’ll also be well-equipped.

But again: he might not quite be enough by himself.

The Braves will have spent much of the money (for Keuchel) that they held in reserve, but we’ll see if there’s a few prospects that could entice a team to give up another starter to really get this rotation worthy of the offense that supports them.

Adding Keuchel now is big.  Adding one more bigger-name starter later… and now that rotation looks good enough to compete in the post-season.  It’s time to get greedy.