Mueller: Extension for Keller should be Pirates' top priority

Full disclosure: I started working on a column about how the Pirates should be hard at work on getting a contract extension for Mitch Keller immediately after he silenced the Colorado Rockies, twirling a complete-game shutout when the team desperately needed it.

There was a small part of me wondering if I was jumping the gun, despite evidence that Keller’s turnaround started around the All-Star break last year and has continued apace.

Now, after he made a piece of Pirates history and stopped another losing streak with seven dominant shutout innings earlier this week against the Orioles – a much better team than the Rockies, mind you – it feels like I need to shout the obvious:

Keller is the Pirates’ ace, and a very good one at that. And they should try to pay him like it.

First, the history. Keller struck out 13 against Baltimore, and didn’t walk a batter. That makes him the first pitcher in team history to strike out at least 13 batters while not allowing a run or a walk. Seriously. No one has ever done it before.

Keller appeared on 93.7 The Fan’s morning show the day after the Rockies game, and indicated that he and the Pirates have at least started to discuss that process.

“We’re working on it. We’re working on it. Nothing too extravagant going on just yet, just pretty early stages of it,” said Keller.

They might want to work a little faster on it. A lot faster, actually.

If Keller keeps pitching the way he has, it’ll cost a very pretty penny to price fix him for his arbitration years, while also buying out a few free-agent seasons.

Ben Cherington and Bob Nutting shouldn’t just be treating this as their main priority, they should be handling it like it’s an imperative.

Ace-level starting pitching is, without question, the most valuable commodity in baseball, even more than power hitting. Keller looks like he’s on his way to providing it.

Think about it this way; the Bucs’ bats finally woke up Wednesday against Detroit, breaking out of a wretched 14-game stretch where they hit well under .200 as a team and averaged a paltry 1.6 runs per game. The 8-0 win got them to 23-20 on the season, and kept them on the Milwaukee Brewers’ heels, just a game out of first place.

Without Keller’s two stopper performances, they’re very likely 21-22 right now, three games out of first, and feeling very different about themselves. It’s only two games, but I suspect looking at the standings and seeing themselves three games above .500 instead of one game below matters, even to seasoned pros.

It’s not a guarantee that this will sustain, which makes signing him to a significant contract a risk, but it’s that very same risk that makes the entire thing plausible on the Pirates’ end. Getting Keller locked up now, before he potentially adds to his resumé, is the wisest course of action. And if Cherington and Nutting see this team as being a year away from true contention – my guess is that they do – having the anchor of their rotation locked up and under contract for the duration of this next competitive “window” is just smart business.

Those are the obvious on-field reasons to get something done. As is always the case with this franchise, the off-field ones might be as important, if not more so.

Inking Keller to an extension of real significance would be another sign that the front office actually means it when they say that they have a new way of doing things. It would stack another legitimate move on top of Bryan Reynolds’ extension (I know, that one still is a slight bargain, Reynolds’ recent slump notwithstanding, when compared to deals for similar players around the league), and it would, more than anything, be proof of concept.

“Player X is playing well, he’s still reasonably young, and we are paying to keep him through what should be his best years.”

Simple, right? Of course, the process has never been that seamless for the Pirates, but signing Keller would be another piece of evidence that things are changing.

They’ll never be the Dodgers or Yankees, of course, but they can certainly be a better, more financially aggressive version of themselves, which is what I suspect the majority of fans really care about.

The current moment – a team that’s still surprisingly competitive, interest in the team still holding up despite their May swoon, summer just around the corner – is primed for the Pirates to get another off-field win.

My fingers are crossed that Ben Cherington and Bob Nutting understand this and that they make a big pitch to Mitch Keller, the guy who’s been making them all season.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Mueller: Extension for Keller should be Pirates' top priority