MILWAUKEE — Dallas Keuchel believes he still has plenty to offer a major league team.
The Milwaukee Brewers are hoping the 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner can provide a boost to their injury-riddled pitching staff now that he’s worked his way back into the majors. They sent cash to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday to acquire Keuchel, who had spent all of this season in the minors. The price was $1.
“I’ve worked through some injuries, kind of worked through some stuff - poor performance, health stuff,” the 36-year-old left-hander said Tuesday night. “But I knew deep down I still had a couple of years left.”
Keuchel has gone 7-4 with a 3.93 ERA in 13 starts with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma this season. Keuchel last pitched in the majors with the Minnesota Twins in 2023, when he went 2-1 with a 5.97 ERA in 10 appearances.
“The fact that he still wants to play, the fact that he still wants to do it after all he’s accomplished, I think that sends a message right there,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s a ballplayer.”
Keuchel owns a 103-92 record and 4.02 ERA in a major league career that includes two All-Star appearances, in 2015 and 2017. He went 20-8 with a 2.43 ERA with the Houston Astros in his Cy Young Award-winning season of 2015.
But he has tailed off quite a bit over the last few years while struggling to stick with multiple teams. He went a combined 2-9 with a 9.20 ERA for three different teams in 2022 before spending last season with the Twins.
“It kind of makes you take a step back and wonder if you still want to do it or if you still can do it, but the whole time I felt like the love of the game and my desire to win and compete is still there,” Keuchel said.
Keuchel has been sharp lately. Over his last three appearances with Tacoma, Keuchel allowed just two runs - one earned - over 17 innings.
“My stuff is as crisp as it’s been in a long time,” he said.
The Brewers needed to add some starting pitching depth as they deal with numerous injuries to their pitching staff. Milwaukee leads the NL Central despite getting just 375 1/3 total innings from its starting pitchers through Monday to rank next-to-last in the majors, ahead of only San Francisco’s 371 2/3 innings.
Milwaukee traded 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles before the season and knew going into the year that two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff wouldn’t pitch at all in 2024 while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
Wade Miley and Robert Gasser have undergone Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Other Brewers pitchers on the injured list include Joe Ross (lower back), Jakob Junis (right shoulder), DL Hall (left knee), Taylor Clarke (toe), JB Bukauskas (right lat) and two-time All-Star closer Devin Williams (back).
Hoby Milner, normally a left-handed reliever, started Milwaukee’s 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday as an opener and became the 13th different Brewers pitcher to start a game this season. That matches the Miami Marlins for the highest total of any major league team.
In other moves Tuesday, the Brewers transferred Gasser to the 60-day injured list, selected right-hander Joel Kuhnel from Triple-A Nashville and optioned right-hander Carlos Rodriguez to Nashville.
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