Seattle Mariners Sign Former Cy Young Winner to Minor League Deal

According to reports, the Seattle Mariners are in the process of signing former American League Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel to a minor league deal.

Per Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports 710 on social media:

The Mariners are in the process of signing Dallas Keuchel to a minor league contract. He should be in Tacoma as soon as this weekend.

It's an interesting signing for a number of reasons:

1) Seattle is slated to have one of the best rotations in baseball at the Major League level. With Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo as the main five in the rotation, there is no real path to innings for Keuchel. At the age of 36, it's surprising to see Keuchel go to a place where there isn't really a chance to get to the big leagues.

2) Furthermore, Emerson Hancock is the next man up if someone is hurt, so there isn't a chance for Keuchel even to capitalize on an injury. With Woo hurt right now, Hancock is already at the Major League level, and barring a second injury, Keuchel still doesn't have a path.

3) We don't know the nature of the deal yet but it's possible that there's an opt-out date. Perhaps Keuchel can go and build up his pitch count and then hit the market again if he's not in the majors by a certain date. This would allow him to put some data out there so maybe he could get a chance somewhere else.

Keuchel is a 12-year veteran who has played with the Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins. Lifetime, he's 103-92, is a two-time All-Star and he won the Cy Young back in 2015.

While his career numbers are good, he's only 13-21 over the last three seasons. He's only thrown just under 100 innings over the last two years.

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