If you needed further confirmation that Dallas Keuchel is a flat-out stud, the Houston Astros ace provided it Tuesday.
Keuchel dominated the New York Yankees for seven shutout innings, racking up nine strikeouts, and the offense did the rest as the 'Stros rolled 15-1.
Keuchel's ERA is now 2.28, and the rest of his stat line—185.2 innings, 165 strikeouts, .212 batting average against—is equally impressive.
He's backing up his breakout 2014 campaign. He's propelling himself into the thick of the American League Cy Young race. He's carrying Houston toward an unexpected, yet increasingly probable, postseason appearance.
And, if the Astros know what's good for them, they'll pay him accordingly.
Granted, Keuchel won't become a free agent until 2019. But next year will be his first of arbitration eligibility, meaning the 27-year-old southpaw is about to get a hefty pay raise. Maybe not the one-year, $19.75 million deal David Price, in his final year of arbitration, signed with the Detroit Tigers in January—but a big bump nonetheless.
This is the moment, then, for the Astros to move aggressively to buy out Keuchel's arbitration years and some of his free-agency years, too, if possible.
Sure, there's an inherent risk to any long-term deal, particularly for a club with a modest payroll like Houston.
But Keuchel is the very definition of worth it, a bona fide front-line arm just entering his prime.
The good news for Astros fans is that Keuchel's agent and the Astros are discussing a multiyear deal, per Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle.
That's not surprising, SB Nation's Matt Jackson pointed out, since, "As the All-Star Game starter and legitimate candidate for the Junior Circuit Cy Young Award this season, [Keuchel] will have a strong case in front of an arbitrator."
Drellich invoked the two-year, $19 million pact the Los Angeles Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw agreed to in 2011. That's a fine starting point, but Houston should aim higher in terms of years, assuming Keuchel is interested.
He sounds like he is, per Drellich:
This is all I've known, and it's where I want to be. I know we're in a great position for the next probably five, 10 years, and that's what it's all about. It's all about winning. Me personally, it's not about the dollar amount. It's about winning, because it doesn't last forever. I know that. So at the end of the day, I just want to win. I want one of those rings.
Speaking of stud left-handers who've won rings, the Astros should take a peek at the five-year, $35 million deal (with two club options) Madison Bumgarner signed in 2012. The San Francisco Giants bought out Bumgarner's arbitration years and one year of potential free agency.
Yes, given what Bumgarner has accomplished since, it might go down as "the club-friendliest contract in either league," as Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News opined this spring.
Keuchel almost certainly won't come so cheaply. But it proves long-term pacts can be agreed upon near the outset of a star player's career, and players don't always angle for the gaudiest contract possible.
As Kuechel said, sometimes guys just want to win. And right now, the Astros are winning. They're in first place. The good vibes are flowing, finally, for a franchise that suffered three consecutive 100-loss campaigns from 2011-13 and a 92-loss "rebound" in 2014.
This is the moment for Houston to cement its relevance and to send a message to the Minute Maid faithful that this budding juggernaut is built to last.
Dallas Keuchel is an ace, as he proved again Tuesday in the Bronx. Now, it's time for the Astros to ensure he's their ace for years to come.
All statistics current as of Aug. 25 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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