An Update to the Pittsburgh Pirates Quest to Sign Ace to Long-Term Deal

Here's the latest information on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their quest to sign ace Mitch Keller to a long-term deal.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are reportedly still interested in signing ace Mitch Keller to a long-term contract.

Per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Talks gained traction during the middle of last season, though the up-and-down nature of performance mixed with business led both sides to press pause until the fall or winter.

Cherington declined to offer any sort of update on those talks. However, he did reiterate that the Pirates see Keller, who’s entering his second year of arbitration and should get a sizable raise, as someone they would absolutely like to extend.

“We appreciate a lot about who he is,” Cherington told the Post-Gazette of Keller. “He’s one of the guys who checks a lot of boxes. He’s a guy we would love to see in a Pirates uniform for a long time. We’ll see how that plays out."

The 27-year-old Keller earned a spot on the National League All-Star team in 2023 on the heels of a great first half that saw him go 9-4 with a 3.31 ERA. To Mackey's point, Keller struggled in the second half as the Pirates fell way out of contention, going 4-5 with a 5.59 ERA over his final 13 starts.

All in all, he went 13-9 for the year with a 4.21 ERA. Lifetime, he's 25-38 with a 4.71 ERA. He made his major league debut during the 2019 season and became a rotation regular in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

The Pirates finished fourth in the National League Central standings, just ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals.

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