The Chicago White Sox could have a competitive advantage over the competition in 2020 with their addition of Dallas Keuchel.
Dallas Keuchel will be one of the anchors of the pitching staff for the Chicago White Sox in 2020, but he actually might have an advantage over other pitchers looking to re-start their seasons at some point this year.
Keuchel, 32, has already dealt with an interrupted routine to start his year, having not signed until June in 2019 with the Atlanta Braves.
As it is, the southpaw really didn’t have a bad season with Atlanta as he registered a 3.75 ERA, 4.72 FIP, 1.367 WHIP, 7.3 K/9, and 3.1 BB/9 over 19 starts (112 2/3 innings).
There were many reasons signing Dallas Keuchel this past offseason made sense for the Chicago White Sox. What has transpired over the last few weeks, though, was never part of their thinking when they signed him to a three-year, $55.5 million contract (Spotrac).
However, Keuchel could actually prove to have a major role in helping the Chicago White Sox, especially their pitchers, get adjusted to the delayed start of the 2020 season.
Keuchel likely has some advice for the younger pitchers of how to ramp up for the season quickly if they get only two or three weeks to “kick it into high gear.”
While Keuchel is by no means an expert on this, he does have experience in this department that could be very valuable for younger arms like Dylan Cease, Reynaldo Lopez, and Michael Kopech.
On top of it, there’s certainly reason to think Lucas Giolito would benefit from his tutelage as well in this scenario.
The expectation would also be that Keuchel really wouldn’t struggle too much in adjusting to this new season schedule, or he’d at least be ahead of other pitchers who have never had a start to their season as Keuchel did in 2019.
It is very interesting that something that was once looked at as a downside to Dallas Keuchel for teams interested in signing him last season now, all of a sudden, could actually be the thing that makes him most valuable in the South Side this season.