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The Yankees have pulled off the magic trick of the Major League Baseball season, winning games and surging into first place with spare parts, minor leaguers and a gaggle of starters on an injured list as long as a breadline during the Depression.
Still, the Yankees have holes and can lose for a few reasons. But one place where they should never be conquered is at the negotiating table. No team or town can offer the cash or cachet that comes with wearing pinstripes and playing in Yankee Stadium.
Yet we're hearing that the one clear chasm on the club -- starting pitching -- could spring more leaks because the club hasn't come to monetary terms with Dallas Keuchel. The former Astros star with the biblical beard is the best starting pitcher on the market today. He even conceded he would take a chainsaw to his chin to fit the Yankees' rigid grooming standard. And now no team needs to burp a draft pick to sign him.
John Glaser/USA TODAY Images According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, that includes the Atlanta Braves, who are locked in a dogfight with the Phillies for the NL East lead; the St. Louis Cardinals, who have their own "Field of Dreams" motif; the Tampa Bay Rays, who are a serious contender despite their appallingly empty home park; the San Diego Padres, with their new star, Manny Machado; the Milwaukee Brewers and their all-world freak Christian Yelich; and the Philadelphia Phillies, with Bryce Harper and the best record in the NL East.
Some hefty foes are pining for the pitcher's services. But the Yankees need a starter and have the money to make Keuchel happy. Luis Severino has yet to pitch this season. CC Sabathia is closing in on age 40 and has spent troubling time on the IL, as has the new ace, James Paxton. Not to mention Domingo German -- the rotation's messiah so far this spring -- will likely be shut down long before the 2019 season ends since he's never tossed more than 125 innings in his brief pro career.
At 31, Keuchel is not the same hurler who won the AL Cy Young Award in 2015. But the Yanks could use the 2018 version, who posted an 11-12 record with a 3.74 ERA in 34 starts. He's a southpaw, a coveted quality for any club, and clearly, Keuchel is no stranger to October, when the Yankees want to win a few series and the World Series.
Keuchel passed on a $17.9 million offer from the Astros, which feels a bit curious for a pitcher past his prime. Surely he doesn't expect that kind of coin with four months left in the regular season. No matter when he demurred or what he demands, the Yankees should pony up more than anyone else. Can the Yankees justify losing a bidding war with the Brewers? Or the Padres?
As of 12:01 a.m. Monday, the few high-end free agents left no longer came with a compensatory draft pick on their price tag. So it's just money. No one has more of it than the Yankees. We've praised them for passing on the bloated contracts handed to Harper and Machado, while slowly peeling off their Darth Vader mask.
Surely the Yankees have enough muscle memory to splurge on Dallas Keuchel, who won't earn half of what Giancarlo Stanton makes, yet could be twice as important this fall.