Houston Astros All-Star pitcher Dallas Keuchel has expressed his desire to remain with the club and is already engaging in talks for a new multiyear contract.
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Keuchel, Astros Working on New Deal
Monday, August 24
Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle provides an extensive report about Keuchel's future. The southpaw emphasizes the importance of winning in describing his optimism about the team before getting into the specifics of the contract negotiations:
There have been some talks, but nothing major, and the feeling is mutual between my party and the team. So that's nice. It's always a nice feeling when the team wants you to be here longer than just the base and that's what we're going on right now. Hopefully something will get done. I know at the end of the day I can sleep well because I love the city of Houston, I love the Astros.
Keuchel will be eligible for arbitration for the next three seasons after giving three full years of service to Houston. He can take his salary demands to an arbitrator if his side cannot strike an agreement with the front office, but all indications are Keuchel would rather avoid any controversy and work something out.
The Houston Chronicle's Reid Laymance weighed in on Keuchel's contract situation:
Keuchel has been instrumental to the Astros' stunning success in 2015. The 27-year-old ace has posted a 14-6 record with a 2.37 ERA and 1.02 WHIP and has a career-best strikeout rate of 7.86 Ks per nine innings.
An exceptional sinker and biting slider allow Keuchel to stymie the opposition and yield very few home runs. His ground-ball percentage of 63.1 is second in all of baseball, per FanGraphs.
The Astros have a promising young nucleus that has Keuchel rightly excited about what's in store in the coming years. Although he isn't trying to "break the bank," to use his own words from Monday's news, Keuchel has earned the right to make gaudier demands with his play over the past two seasons.
What often determines success in the postseason is the quality of starting pitching. Keuchel has been a class act and doesn't appear keen on demanding a paycheck. If he can maintain that mindset and his current level of play, Houston ought to invest what it can to keep him around for the long haul.
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