Phillies reportedly have shown interest in former Cy Young Award winner

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitching has had a rather disastrous start in 2023.

Andrew Painter, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez all suffered injuries during the spring, depleting the team’s depth. And Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler — the team’s co-aces — combined to go just eight innings in their first starts, allowing nine earned runs over that stretch.

There are 160 games left in the 2023 regular season. Nola and Wheeler have long tracks records of success, and Suárez and Sánchez are both working towards returns. Taking a deep breath may not be the worst idea for Phillies fans currently.

Still, Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies seem to at least be exploring some external options to add pitching depth.

According to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, “the Phillies considered Dallas Keuchel on a minor-league deal but haven’t made an offer yet.”

It’s unclear if the Phillies are still considering Keuchel and when a potential offer would be made.

The 35-year-old posted an unsightly 9.20 ERA and 5.52 FIP in 14 stars a season ago, splitting the campaign with the Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers.

Of course, Keuchel was once one of the best starters in baseball, peaking in 2015 when he won the American League Cy Young Award. Keuchel is a five-time Gold Glove Award winner and two-time All-Star.

While nothing Keuchel showed last year would lead you to believe he can still be effective at the Major League level, he isn’t that far removed from having success. Between 2019 and 2020, Keuchel posted a 3.12 ERA and 4.13 FIP across 30 starts for the Atlanta Braves and White Sox.

There wouldn’t seem to be much to lose in giving Keuchel a chance to pitch at Triple-A Lehigh Valley for a few weeks and then re-evaluating the state of your starting rotation and where he is at this stage of his career.

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