BREAKING NEWS : Brewers acquire one-time Cy Young winner in exchange for cash

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Brewers have acquired left-hander Dallas Keuchel from the Mariners. In exchange, the M’s will get monetary considerations, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The left-hander won’t require a 40-man slot with the Brewers right away because he was with the M’s on a minor league contract and wasn’t on the 40-man roster.

The 36-year-old Keuchel inked a minor league contract with the Mariners and has already started 13 games at Triple-A this season. Despite pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, he has given up 3.93 earned runs per nine innings. Although he has a poor strikeout percentage (15.6%) for the year, he has always been successful when he keeps the ball on the ground and limits walks, which is the case once more this season. For the Rainiers, he had a 7.6% walk rate and a 59.5% ground ball rate.

Over the course of his career, Keuchel has pitched 1,625 2/3 innings with a 4.02 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate, and 57.7% ground-ball rate. That has largely been his formula. His performance has declined since he earned the 2015 American League Cy Young award with the Astros after pitching to a 2.48 ERA at the height of his game. Since the beginning of 2021, he has bounced to the White Sox, Diamondbacks, Rangers, and Twins, posting a 6.29 ERA.

Due to his recent poor performance, he was forced to accept a minor league contract and might not have been able to break into Seattle’s rotation. Bryan Woo left Monday night’s game due to some hamstring pain, so they could have to add him to the disabled list. Even if Woo is headed for the injured list, the Mariners have a rotation that includes George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller, Emerson Hancock, and Jonathan Díaz as potential replacements for Woo.

But the Brewers are significantly more inclined to risk it with an experienced player like Keuchel. They were aware going into the season that Brandon Woodruff would need to rehabilitate from shoulder surgery for the whole season on the injured list, but he has since made lots of friends on the IL. While players like Joe Ross and DL Hall are out owing to various ailments, Wade Miley and Robert Gasser both needed UCL surgery and are gone for the season. Reinstated from the IL, Jakob Junis has been working as a relief.

As a result, Milwaukee’s rotation behind Freddy Peralta is now somewhat haphazard. Bryse Wilson, whose 4.24 ERA is respectable but his peripherals are less remarkable, was promoted from the bullpen to a starting position by the team. Similar in that regard is 33-year-old veteran Colin Rea, who has a 3.62 ERA this season despite a meager 15.6% strikeout percentage. With scant experience, both Tobias Myers and Carlos Rodríguez are in their first seasons. Myers has an ERA of 3.12 compared to Rodriguez’s 7.30, but the underlying statistics point to the possibility that Myers’s performance won’t last.