Keuchel holding out for fair value 'for the greater good of baseball'
Former American League Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel remains unsigned over a month into the regular season.
He certainly didn't see his unemployment lasting this long.
"If you would've asked me on the first day of free agency, I would have said no way I'd be here on May 6," Keuchel said, according to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports. "This was not the plan at all. I would love to be out there playing ball and helping a team win. Because, to my career at this point, I've done more winning than I have losing and at a much higher clip. So what team wouldn't want me to be out there?"
He said he's received offers, though they haven't been to his liking. Keuchel's agent Scott Boras even suggested he should consider some of them, though he ultimately declined.
"I lead the ship," Keuchel said. "Scott will give me information in general. He gives me necessary information for me to make a knowledgeable decision on my future. … And if it were up to him I would probably be signed at this point. He wants me out there throwing, pitching, and putting up stats that are quality major-league stats. I told him no on numerous deals because it's about principle. It's about fair market value. And I wasn't getting that."
And while Keuchel laughs when he gets compared to Le'Veon Bell - the running back who held out for the entire 2018 NFL season due to contract issues with the Pittsburgh Steelers - he sees his stance as being one of principle above all else.
"Why succumb to teams that think you're needy and you're willing to accept a lesser offer than your market value? It's all relative. If you're at work and you're killing your job, nine to five every day, and you get another offer that's less, why would you accept that offer?
"This is not a me thing," he said. "This is for the greater good of baseball. This is for principle."
Keuchel's chance at signing a new deal could improve after the MLB draft from June 3-5. Any team who signs him before then would have to surrender a compensatory draft pick to his former team, the Houston Astros, since he rejected a $17.9-million qualifying offer last fall.