Report: Blue Jays Entering the Mitch Keller Sweepstakes

Toronto enters Tuesday’s action in first place in the American League East Division at 59-41, four games ahead of a New York Yankees team that surely won’t spend the trade deadline standing pat. It’s no secret that the Blue Jays could use another starter. At age 40, Max Scherzer has spent time on the injured list and pitched in only five games this season. Bowden Francis, with his 2-8 record and 6.05 ERA, has been subpar to say the least. He’s currently on the IL. Eric Lauer has been a surprising savior for the rotation. The veteran left-hander is 5-2 with a 2.80 ERA and 0.967 WHIP in 15 games. But he didn’t pitch in the majors in 2024 and registered a 6.56 ERA in 10 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2023. One wonders how long his current performance can be sustained.

Four Teams Interested in Keller

The Blue Jays are the fourth team to inquire about Keller. There has also been known interest from the Yankees, Chicago Cubs, and New York Mets, although Hiles recently reported that the Cubs view Keller as more of a backup plan. (A backup plan to what? It would be hard to find a pitcher of Keller’s caliber who’s tied up long-term.)

That the Blue Jays have contacted the Pirates about Keller comes as no surprise. Indeed, observers of either team had to be wondering what took so long. The Jays have been a favorite trade partner of Pirates general manager Ben Cherington ever since he took the job in November 2019. Cherington had previously served as Toronto’s vice president of baseball operations, a position he assumed in September 2016. He’s shown an inclination to acquire Blue Jays players, via trade or otherwise, particularly those that were in the Toronto system during his time there. There have been 19 such players in all. Among the more prominent names are current Pirates Ryan Borucki, Génesis Cabrera, Spencer Horwitz, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Tim Mayza, and former Pirates Anthony Alford, Tyler Heineman (now back with the Jays), Joshua Palacios, and Rowdy Tellez.

Pirates Looking for Bats

Cherington is reported to be looking for young, controllable hitters at this year’s trade deadline. The Pirates’ offense has been one of the worst in baseball, hitting .230/.300/.338 as a team. Cherington doesn’t necessarily have to trade Keller, who can still play an important role for the Pirates as an experienced rotation anchor. Cherington would have been bowled over by the return. At the same time, one must give to receive. With some 25 teams, give or take, considering themselves buyers, the law of supply and demand should dictate that Cherington should be able to extract a hefty return for Keller. On the other hand, Cherington has a poor track record of obtaining good hitters when he’s had good pitching to trade.

Indeed, on last Sunday’s #1 Cochran Sports Showdown on local Pittsburgh television, the four-person panel of experts questioned whether owner Bob Nutting should even permit Cherington to trade such an important piece as Keller. Their thinking was that Cherington is likely to be fired after this season anyway. The Pirates may be better served by using the deadline to unload expiring contracts. Then the next GM would make the franchise-altering trades that Pittsburgh so desperately needs. The panel felt that Nutting should sign off on any trade of Keller before Cherington is allowed to proceed. However, that contradicts the reality as reported by Hiles. Cherington told Hiles that he has been working the phones since the draft concluded. It will be interesting to see whether Keller lands with the Blue Jays and what the return might be.