3 dream starting pitchers for the Angels to trade for this offseason

3) Mitch Keller

Mitch Keller isn't quite as proven as Dylan Cease, but he's a 27-year-old developing into the frontline starter that the Pirates hoped he'd be. His 4.21 ERA in 32 starts and 194.1 innings pitched this past season might not jump off the page, but Keller was another victim of poor circumstances behind him (3.80 FIP, 3.70 xFIP) and seems to only be getting better.

Keller was extremely inconsistent which is another thing that led to the inflated ERA. He had five starts this season in which he allowed six or more earned runs. He also had five starts this season in which he delivered at least seven shutout innings. He even threw a complete game shutout this season.

Keller went at least five innings allowing two runs or fewer in 19 of his 32 starts. In 17 of those starts he went at least six innings. Pretty much half the time Keller was giving his team 6+ innings of two earned runs or fewer. That's quite good. For reference, Shohei Ohtani didn't even do that in half of his starts in 2023. There are obvious things for him to improve on, but he showed real flashes.

The Pirates dangled Keller at the deadline but opted to keep him around. Like Cease, he's under team control through the 2025 season. With the Pirates often being too cheap to pay their own players, there's a chance they watch Keller walk for nothing if they don't trade him. Moving him now while they're still not close to winning would give them the best return. Again, I'm not sure the Angels realistically have enough to land a pitcher with more than one year of control, but he's someone they certainly should look into acquiring.