Dallas Keuchel Should Be Off Limits for the Cardinals

Remember May 31st? Dallas Keuchel cleared waivers and was released by the Chicago White Sox. It was also the day some Cardinal fans clamored for the team to make a quick move to sign him. The team didn’t and they were better for it.

Keuchel would sign with the Diamondbacks on June 6th, and, after a short stint in the minors, debuted with the team on June 26th. He would pitch 18.2 innings for the D’backs and sport a 9.64 ERA. He’s 2-7 this season with a 8.53 ERA, 5.78 FIP and 2.03 WHIP. He’s not striking out many and he’s allowing a bunch of walks.

The Cardinals need quality innings; he’s averaged less then 4.1 innings per start. He’s gone over 5 innings in a start twice this season, and he has 4 starts of 5 innings; half of his starts have been less then 5 innings.

He’s had 5 starts where he allowed 6 or more earned runs. He’s had 4 starts where he struck out more than a hitter per inning. His team was 4-8 in games he started.

These aren’t new trends for him either. Outside of his K/9, all of his rates have gotten worse over the last 3 years.

There might be hope for him if he can miss bats and limit his walks, but figuring that out in a pennant race is the wrong time, especially on a team looking for meaningful innings. The team would be better off looking at Noah Syndergaard, Frankie Montas, Paul Blackburn, and/or Madison Bumgarner and what they would cost in trade; the team would even be better eating the contract of Patrick Corbin, who averages an inning more per game then Keuchel and has 9 starts of 6 or more innings.