Yankees emerging as the clear leader for Dallas Keuchel

Dallas Keuchel hasn’t made a final decision yet, but all signs point to him joining the New York Yankees in the very near future. 

MLB teams looking to sign Dallas Keuchel need to hurry if they want to keep him out of the Bronx. All indications point to the talented southpaw signing with the Yankees in the very near future.

Keuchel and his representatives haven’t made a final decision as of yet, but New York has emerged as the “true favorites for the former Cy Young Award winner.” The Braves have previously been listed alongside the Yankees as the co-favorites to land Keuchel, but it appears the NL East club have lost momentum in recent hours.

Manager Aaron Boone has enjoyed quality starting pitching for most of the season, but there are warning signs on the horizons for the Yankees staff. CC Sabathia has gone on the Injured List twice and the organization isn’t sure they can trust him to handle a full workload this year.

Domingo German has arguably been the team’s ace to date, but there’s a very strong chance he’ll see a strict innings limit imposed on his workload down the stretch. He’s on pace to shatter the total number of innings he’s ever thrown during a Major League season. Expect the Yankees to be very cautious with German down the stretch.

The team hopes that Luis Severino and possibly Jordan Montgomery will come back and make an impact after the All-Star break, but it’s dangerous to bet on either injured star to be a real contributors. Add all of those factors up and it’s easy to see why general manager Brian Cashman holds a strong interest in Keuchel.

The Yankees likely would have preferred to sign him earlier in the season, but they weren’t willing to part with prime draft compensation to make that happen. That restriction was lifted this week which opened up the floodgates for teams to bid on Keuchel’s services. It’s never really a surprise for the Yankees to win out when it’s a question of salary.

In all likelihood, Keuchel will sign a one-year contract with the team that will pay him something around the prorated portion of the qualifying offer he could have inked with Houston. That means he’ll be a relatively inexpensive, low-risk addition for the Yankees for the rest of the season. The fact that he also might take the Yankees out of the trade market for a starting pitcher will be a huge plus to Cashman and his front office.

Keuchel could also make a late swerve, but it looks like he’ll be wearing pinstripes soon. His decision to sign with the Yankees should only strengthen the team’s hold on the top spot in the AL East.