Earlier today the Chicago White Sox announced they have designated pitcher Dallas Keuchel for assignment. Infielder Danny Mendick was recalled to take his place on the roster.
White Sox fans should be fine with this move as Danny Mendick is more deserving of a roster spot than Dallas Keuchel at this point.
Dallas was a big reason for the Sox’s struggles so far. His 2-5 record and -1.1 WAR suggest that he was playing a big role in dragging this team down to a .500 record overall. There wasn’t much point to keeping him around, despite all the money that was owed to him for this season.
The White Sox don’t need to do much to replace him in the rotation right now. Their top 3 starters are Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito, and Dylan Cease. They also have Johnny Cueto as their number 5 starter and Lance Lynn is slated to return sometime soon. That will give them 5 starters total.
The Chicago White Sox finally cut ties with Dallas Keuchel as he has been DFA’d.
It still might help the White Sox to trade for a starting pitcher at some point but there’s no reason to panic right now. The team’s biggest holes are on offense and not in the rotation.
It is good to see Mendick get called up but the Chicago White Sox should look into calling up Yolbert Sanchez as well. Second base has been a weakness since Nick Madrigal first got injured last season. The Sox have gotten the worst production out of second base of any team in the American League.
Dallas Keuchel had a great first season for the Chicago White Sox in 2020 when he posted a 1.99 ERA and finished fifth in Cy Young voting. Unfortunately he declined a lot in 2021, before really struggling this year with a 7.88 ERA in 8 starts.
Dallas had a tendency to blame his struggles on the team’s defense but he had a 6.20 FIP (fielding independent pitching) as well and that’s just not going to get it done.
Overall, Dallas Keuchel has 101 wins in his big league career, which is pretty good but that isn’t helping them in 2022. He likely will get another chance with a different team this season but if he doesn’t pitch much better than this his career is nearing the end.