AL Central rival's interest in former Royals pitcher could haunt, hurt KC

Skepticism was hard to avoid last January when the Cubs signed former Kansas City Royals starter Brad Keller. The risk was low — Chicago gave Keller only a minor league deal with the customary invitation to spring training perk — but the arrangement also wasn't loaded with obvious upside. Keller, after all, hadn't pitched consistently well since the short 2020 season when he went 5-3 with a 2.47 ERA for the Royals.

Adding injuries to the mix — Keller missed much of the 2023 season with right shoulder impingement and suffered from signs of thoracic outlet syndrome late in the same campaign — meant Keller entered the Cubs' spring camp burdened by an uncertain future.

But now, as baseball heads into potentially action-packed Winter Meetings, that future remains uncertain ... but for much different reasons. Keller rode an impressive Cactus League performance (13 strikeouts, only two walks, and a 3.86 ERA in 11.2 innings) to an Opening Day Chicago roster spot and, buoyed by a highly successful switch to relief work, now finds himself in a position to sort through a variety of new suitors on the free agent market.

And according to the Hot Stove rumor mill, he could end up haunting — and even hurting — the Royals in 2026.

Could former Royals hurler Brad Keller be headed back to the AL Central?

Could be. Detroit, long a Central Division rival and nemesis of Kansas City, seems to be thinking about acquiring Keller, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.

Picking up the suddenly-resurgent right-hander makes more than a little sense for the Tigers, against whom he's 6-5 with a 3.26 ERA during his eight-season big league career — although they might be considering him for their starting rotation, his success in the Cubs' bullpen renders him a dual asset.

That could provide a major pitching boost to the Tigers, whose epic down-the-stretch collapse almost cost them a 2025 postseason spot. Switched almost exclusively to the bullpen this season — he started in only one of his 68 appearances — the pleasantly surprising Keller posted a 2.07 ERA, a career second-best 2.84 BB/9 (only his 2.80 pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign mark was lower), and generally excellent peripheral stats.

Those numbers reflect Keller's potential to beef up a Detroit bullpen whose 4.05 ERA and 40 saves both ranked 17th, and its 1.30 WHIP 16th, in the majors this season.

He could also start, especially if his 2025 success as a reliever is at all predictive of an overall rediscovery of the form that brought him two Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year awards during his six seasons with the Royals.

Yes, he was 38-53 with a 4.27 ERA during his KC tenure, but he pitched for a series of bad teams before injuries nagged him during his final season with the club. And when he was on, he could be dominant.

What Detroit ultimately signing Keller means for the Royals, of course, is that he'll inevitably face the club that allowed him to leave via free agency after the 2023 campaign. And if he handles Kansas City as well as he handled the National League this season, that could spell trouble for a team whose 2026 playoff hopes leave little margin for error.

Time will tell if Keller ends up in Detroit. But that possibility, and Keller's impact on Kansas City's AL Central aspirations if he does become a Tiger, are intriguing to ponder.