Dallas Keuchel Signing is Essential for Yankees Due to Uncertainty Surrounding Luis Severino
By Brendan Azoff
With the Yankees sending scouts to watch Dallas Keuchel pitch a simulated game on Sunday, the question of whether or not the Bombers will ink the left-hander has started to surface.
The answer to that question is quite simply yes, they should. In fact, signing the former Cy Young winner is essential for the Yanks to ensure their rotation will be able to survive the regular season.
It’s hard to see Severino back before July at this point. https://t.co/Gwu9ALfjvN @bykristieackert
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) May 23, 2019
Luis Severino has missed the start of the season, and New York believes he will be back at some point in July. There remains uncertainty as to when exactly the ace will reach full health and return to the rotation.
Signing Keuchel alleviates the need to rush Severino back from the Injured List and gives the Yankees a viable rotation option for the rest of the regular season. However, Severino is not the only starter the Yankees are worried about protecting.
How should the New York Yankees handle Domingo German's impending innings limit threshold? pic.twitter.com/jsOVikutRD
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) May 22, 2019
Domingo German threw just 60.1 MLB innings in 2018, and his MLB high for innings was 85.2 back in 2017. If you combine his MLB and Minor League innings, Domingo can likely be pushed to 160 this season, but even that is a stretch. Adding Keuchel reduces the need to stretch out German, allowing the Yankees to save him for the postseason.
Keuchel has a career 3.66 ERA and will be a solid addition to a Yankees team that despite their winning ways, still has a lot of issues to address surrounding the health of their big names.