Another high-priced free agent?mors and SpeculationConversation StartersWPA Game RecapsTransactionsLatest NewsMLB Trade RumorsBrewers Rumors and SpeculationReport lists Milwaukee Brewers among three finalists for free agent Dallas KeuchelNew Jose Pirela Jersey ,163commentsAnother high-priced free agent?!CSTShareTweetShareShareReport lists Milwaukee Brewers among three finalists for free agent Dallas KeuchelTommy Gilligan-USA TODAY SportsIt would be easy for one to assume that the Milwaukee Brewers are done making major moves for the 2018-19 offseason. After the blockbuster signing of Yasmani Grandal, the Opening Day payroll projection sits at more than $112 mil, which stands to set a new franchise record as it is. Grandal’s addition fills the need for a significant offensive upgrade to the lineup, and with the club seemingly content to field a platoon a second base, as well as plenty of depth in both the rotation and bullpen, it’s not difficult to start visualizing what the roster will look like on March 28th when Milwaukee opens the season against St. Louis.Slingin’ David Stearns may have another trick up his sleeve yet, however, if there is any truth to this recent report:According to Paul Crane, a veteran broadcaster, reporter, and play-by-play announcer with a pulse on the Braves beat in Atlanta, the Brewers are apparently one of three finalists for the services of free agent starter Dallas Keuchel. Milwaukee is reportedly competing with the Braves and Astros, but may be willing to go to three guaranteed seasons while the Astros are offering only two and an option year. What the Braves may be offering is unknown.Keuchel was predicted to land a four-year, $82 mil deal by MLB Trade Rumors as the second-best free agent pitcher at the outset of the offseason, though it doesn’t seem like he’ll approach either of those figures based on Crane’s report. There are reasons to be skeptical of Keuchel as a free agent, starting with the recently-turned 31 year old’s age. He dealt with shoulder and neck issues during the 2016-17 seasons Kevin Kiermaier Jersey , though he did come back to pitch 204.2 innings last year. The 8.3% swinging-strike rate and 17.5% strikeout rate he posted in 2018 were his lowest since his rookie season of 2012. And, in terms of bottom-line run prevention, he’s been closer to average (4.55 ERA, 113 ERA- in 2016, 3.74 ERA, 91 ERA- in 2018) than ace (2.90 ERA, 69 ERA- in 2017) in two of the last three seasons.However, in an age where strikeouts are ever-increasing and an era when even the rich teams refuse to spend in free agency, Keuchel may be an under-valued commodity. He does possess two elite skills - controlling quality of contact and keeping the ball on the ground. Going back seven seasons to the start of 2012, Keuchel’s first in the big leagues, the left-hander ranks third-best among the 218 qualified starting pitchers by yielding a mere 25.3% hard contact rate and sixth-best by inducing soft contact 21.6% of the time. He’s also generated the fourth-highest ground ball rate among pitchers in that sample at 58.9%. Those strengths ought to fit particularly well within the Brewers run prevention system, which encourages hurlers who lack elite velocity to pitch to contact and allow Milwaukee’s precise shifting of defenders to turn balls in play into outs.The Brewers are perhaps more willing than any other organization to overlook low-endfastball velo and don’t figure to be scared off by Keuchel’s 89 MPH heater nor his 6.7 K/9. Despite underwhelming “stuff,” the southpaw has put together DRA- marks of 86 or below in each of the last five seasons, including a 57 DRA- during his Cy Young season in 2015. The high price tag that typically accompanies a free agent of his ilk would be something that normally scares off a small-market team like Milwaukee, but if Stearns sees a possibility to mine surplus value from a player who he ought to be quite familiar with from their days together in Houston, then perhaps he can convince owner Mark Attanasio to further augment the payroll in the quest for a World Series.Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus There’s no real truth anywhere Alex Cobb Jersey , what are we to do with any of this silly information"Reports out of Las Vegas running up to the opening of Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings, and even on the first actual day of whatever goes on there, were that talks were “intensifying” around the Tribe trading their A-1 ace, Corey Kluber. It was news that was as expected as it was depressing. The names alleged to be coming back to Cleveland were mostly Dodger outfielders, which softens the blow some of course, but rumors that Kluber might be leaving actually starting to calcify were hard to hear. Except that they’re not true. Or maybe they are. And that’s why this is the blurst week in baseball.See, when a front office — or the President of Baseball Operations no less — says something like “ We were sitting here eating lunch by ourselves going, ‘Oh, really. Who is intensifying those talks?’ I’m not sure who is having those talks intensified.” you start to get a little confused, frustrated, wary, the whole gamut of emotions surrounding being yanked around. It’s still fun to hear the rumor a little bit, but having it get shot down is a little stupid to have to deal with.Because there’s surely something there. Somewhere. The question is what. I know media figures get a bad reputation for just throwing stuff out there because it’ll all stick, especially this time of year. And I don’t mean to dog Jon Morosi, the progenitor of the tweet that started this whole mess, but you could make up any rumor you wanted at this point and someone is going to bite. Especially when it’s about the Indians trading a pitcher. Throw in Kluber’s name specifically and you run the news cycle for at least half a day. But it can’t just be made up whole-cloth. That’s a great way to nuke any level of credibility you might have.But we aren’t going to get anything out of it Wade Boggs Jersey , are we. No confirmation can even be hoped for, even a half-hearted one. Because of course the Indians are going to deny it. Hell, so are the Dodgers. Morosi has a heck of a track record as a reporter, or at least a hell of a clip book. He’s written across the country in Seattle and Detroit, and now for MLB.com. So he’s got the contacts. But he’s also written two articles about this same Kluber deal in the last week and a half, and now he’s tweeted about it a handful of times in the last 36 hours. Not to say he’s banging a drum or anything, but he’s definitely working an angle in an effort to get clicks and whatnot. As long as there’s real bones to the reports, there’s no reason to complain of course.Problem is, nothing at the meetings is ever corroborated until it is. What are we as outsiders and fans to do? Live at the whim of a reporter and the team he’s hounding? Who are we to give more credence to at this point? It feels wrong to just get yanked around by this. At the same time though, It’s not like any of it matters, not really. It’s fun, right? Perhaps that’s the only way to approach any of this. They need to trade someone anyway. Might as well get wrapped up in the storm and just enjoy the ride. Or get Mad Online and yell at someone on Twitter. Or in the comments below, if you want. Either is a great way to stay warm on a cold December night.