Cincinnati Reds: The Brad Keller Trade
Aaron Gash/Associated Press
The Deal (Dec. 14, 2017): Cincinnati Reds get PTBNL or cash; Kansas City Royals get RHP Brad Keller (8.3 WAR)
Sans National League Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer, who's a free agent, the Reds have already traded ace closer Raisel Iglesias. Ace starters Sonny Gray and Luis Castillo could be next.
One senses that the Reds don't see an easy road back to the playoffs after snapping a six-year drought in 2020. Likewise, one wonders what would be different if they still had Brad Keller.
To be sure, the Reds never truly had Keller in their possession. They selected him from the Diamondbacks in the Rule 5 draft in December 2017, only to immediately flip him to the Kansas City Royals.
Following a season in which he'd posted a 4.68 ERA at Double-A, Keller didn't seem to be much of a prospect at the time. Yet he's quietly developed into one of baseball's top pitchers—and nastiest slider artists—since the Royals called him up in 2018, compiling a 131 ERA+ over 360.1 innings.
Those are marks only 11 other pitchers have hit over the last three seasons. The 25-year-old Keller is the youngest of the bunch, and he won't reach free agency until after 2023.