It would only make sense if Cease was called up along with Keuchel’s signing. Then, you would have filled two of the big holes (Banuelos and Covey) in your rotation. I don’t see it happening but it would definitely improve the team’s chances for this year. Also, it would only be money and you may have Keuchel for more than one year. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to pay a ton of money but the years on the deal would be a bigger concern for signing Keuchel.
But just look at the money Hahn already wasted this past offseason. He has two good acquisitions in McCann and Colome and they only made up around $10 million of the total $42 million or so he spent on the likes of Alonso, Nova, Herrera, Jay, and Santana. That $32 million dollar difference could have paid for a lot of Keuchel’s contract. If Hahn can burn $32 million on trash, I can’t argue with people who would rather see him spend it on an established, albeit aging, starting pitcher. Basically, it’s hard to complain about spending money on Keuchel when he won’t cost a draft pick and we’ve already seen the junk that Hahn will waste his offseason money on.