It’s not often you find a 31-year-old, former Cy Young<\/strong><\/a> award winner in free agency. It’s also not very common to see teams seemingly disinterested in signing that pitcher. Even so, it’s time to look for potential landing spots for Dallas Keuchel<\/strong><\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n Things didn\u2019t quite go according to plan for Dallas Keuchel<\/strong><\/a> last off-season. Coming off a solid 2018 season that saw the left-hander produce a respectable 3.74 ERA to go along with 12 wins, it was assumed that Keuchel would fetch a multi-year deal having just turned 30 years old. That deal never came to fruition and when spring arrived, Kuechel wasn\u2019t even on a roster. Thanks to draft pick compensation, a strange market, and <\/span>some fascinating Boras quotes<\/span><\/a>, Keuchel had to wait until July to finally sign his one year deal with Atlanta.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n His 2019 saw some ups and some downs, finishing 8-8 with a 3.75 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 112.2 innings. Those numbers should be enough for the veteran to land a longer deal this year. With the Atlanta Braves<\/a> signing Cole Hamels<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Keuchel will most likely be pitching for a new team in 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There are some obvious potential suitors as well as some dark horse candidates for the former World Series champion. Here are four teams that could use the veteran in their rotation.<\/span><\/p>\n The Los Angeles Angels<\/a> will be the most obvious choice for any decent free agent pitcher and Keuchel is no exception. Considering he is very familiar with the AL West, it makes sense for him to return to a division where he has dominant. Their current <\/span>depth chart<\/span><\/a> has Felix Pena<\/strong><\/a> and Dillon Peters<\/strong><\/a> as their fourth and fifth starters, respectively. Gerrit Cole<\/strong><\/a> makes a lot of sense for them, but even if they do manage to sign Cole, Kuechel would slot in nicely as a four or a five. With Andrelton Simmons<\/strong><\/a> at shortstop, the infield defense would be top-notch and fit nicely with Kuechel\u2019s skill set.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n More importantly for the Angels, Keuchel goes out there every fifth day and takes the mound. The Angels have suffered some devastating injuries to their pitching staff in the last couple of years. A two or three-year deal could make both sides pretty happy. Expect the Angels to focus heavily on Keuchel especially if they miss out on Cole.<\/span><\/p>\n The Chicago White Sox<\/a> have been tied to seemingly every free agent this off-season, signaling that they are going to be busy heading into 2020. Already inking Yasmani Grandal<\/strong><\/a> to a deal, the Sox have already shown a willingness to sign veterans to speed up their timeline in a pretty open AL Central. GM Rick Hahn told <\/span>Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times<\/span><\/a> earlier in the off-season that he understands the fans\u2019 frustration saying, \u201cOh, I get it. We all get it. We all get the impatience. We feel the impatience.\u201d It’s clear that the White Sox will be making moves and Keuchel could be one of them.<\/span><\/p>\n The 2020 White Sox look similar to the 2019 Braves. Bringing Keuchel in as a bridge to the youth as well as a mentor worked out well for Atlanta and easily could be a similarily great move for Chicago. With Chicago seeing fewer and fewer weaknesses, they might pounce on Keuchel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If not the White Sox, then the other Chicago team makes a ton of sense for the sinkerballer. Chicago\u2019s payroll is extremely high at the moment and the top tier free agent pitchers are probably out of reach. GM Theo Epstein did say, \u201c<\/span>It\u2019s an area in free agency that\u2019s fairly robust this year \u2014 the depth of starting pitching options,\u201d leaving one to assume that the Chicago Cubs<\/a>\u00a0will be looking for a starter and that they will be looking for the best deal they can get. Keuchel may find a weak market for his services once again. This might allow the Cubs to land a starting pitcher within their price range.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another interesting idea to consider is Keuchel would likely excel at Wrigley Field. Groundball pitchers have famously done well there and Keuchel fits that narrative. With a strong offense backing him up, Keuchel could be the valuable innings-eater the Cubs desire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The one dark horse candidate is the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>. They have reportedly been checking in on multiple starters thus far.<\/p>\n #BlueJays<\/a> interested in Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel, among other free-agent starting pitching options, as I reported this morning on @MLBNetwork<\/a>. @MLB<\/a><\/p>\n — Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 4, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nLos Angeles Angels<\/span><\/h2>\n
Chicago White Sox<\/span><\/h2>\n
Chicago Cubs<\/span><\/h2>\n
Toronto Blue Jays<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n