Dallas Keuchel on Waiting for Fair Free Agency Offer: 'I'm Not Asking for the World'
Dallas Keuchel recently spoke with Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports about his current free agency and discussed his goal to ensure he receives "fair market value."
"When people tweet at me, saying, 'Hey, quit being the Le'Veon Bell of baseball,' it is a funny line," Keuchel said. "But he stood up for himself. He stood up for his well-being. And I'm standing up for my well-being as well. It's about principle in both situations."
Keuchel is a two-time All-Star and the 2015 Cy Young winner, as well as a World Series champion. He has spent his entire seven-year MLB career with the Astros until this point.
According to Brown, the 31-year-old lefty is dissatisfied by the current structure in place through the collective bargaining agreement that creates a situation like this for a veteran in free agency. Keuchel noted, "They're trying to tell me I'm less than what the analytical data is saying. How is that possible?"
"It's not just the front offices who have all these numbers," Keuchel said. "Players and agencies now have the access and the knowledge to do the same thing. My asking price and my due diligence is not just out of left field. It has come to me through my own career path, my own career numbers, and then what my market is valued at this point in time. To this point it hasn’t been matched.... I'm not asking for the world."
Keuchel added, "This is for the greater good of baseball," and he has "no idea" how long he will be waiting to get a new deal.
Last season, Keuchel had a 3.74 ERA in 204 2/3 innings. It was the fourth-best ERA of Keuchel's career and the second-most innings pitched.
