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On Sunday night, one of the biggest trade dominoes of the trade deadline fell when the Kansas City Royals decided to extend star pitcher Seth Lugo instead of making him a trade candidate.
Lugo was high on many teams' radars since he's having another good season with an ERA of 2.95 in 113 innings pitched.
Now with Lugo off the market, the teams will have to pivot, and one name that could be traded is Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller.
If the Pirates do move Keller, then Zachary Rotman from Fansided thinks the Cubs should be in for his services.
"Would the Pittsburgh Pirates actually be willing to trade Mitch Keller within the NL Central division to the Cubs? I'm not convinced, but if they are, the Cubs should be all over it," Rotman wrote. "Yes, it'd be costly, and that can be seen as concerning since Keller isn't an ace or anything more than a low-end No. 2 starter on a good team, but Keller would bring several years of control and durability. Keller has made 21 starts this season so far, and he's made at least 29 starts in each of the previous three years. Since the beginning of the 2022 campaign, Keller ranks ninth in the majors in starts (113) and 10th in innings pitched (656.1). That kind of reliability doesn't grow on trees, and the fact that Keller has an additional three years at pretty team-friendly terms makes him even more intriguing."
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Keller is in the second year of a five-year, $77 million contract, so if the Cubs do trade for him, there is a chance he will cost a lot, given that he is under contract for three more years and is on a National League Central team.
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