The Keone Kela Conundrum

I wanted to make conundrum be spelled with a ‘K’ in the article title for alliteration purposes, but that…probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. But with regards to Keone Kela’s performance since his injury and mini-sabbatical, he’s been all about that K life.

Kela is sporting a stunning 37.0% strikeout rate since coming back, a stark improvement over the 22.5% rate prior to his injury. And yes, 12 innings is a small sample, but that 0.75 ERA/1.63 FIP mix sure is tasty. Essentially, this is the dominant pitcher that many (including myself) thought Kela would be in the setup role heading into the season.

Kela’s struggles in the first month of the season put the bullpen in flux until Kyle Crick stepped in to solidify things, until he encountered his own issues.

But when discussing Kela, you can’t just look at his numbers in a vacuum. Kela’s personality is as volatile as his curveball is unhittable. In some respects, this is a modified version of the issues the Penguins had with Phil Kessel. The on-field (on-ice) production was great at times, but Kessel was eventually traded to the Arizona Coyotes when his off-ice quirks were no longer worth it. Kela’s off-field issues could be his downfall, too.

Kela has one year of team control left in 2020. His salary this year as an arb-2 is $3.175M, so I’d say that with the time missed this year he’s probably looking at around $4.5M next year. At that number, his production level would be a steal.

But has he worn out his welcome permanently in the organization' Reports surfaced that the Pirates and Brewers discussed, albeit briefly, a Jeremy Jeffress-Keone Kela swap at the deadline. If the current front office and coaching staff remain in place for 2020, Kela may be shipped out in an effort to improve team chemistry.

That would be a hit to the bullpen and their potential, but it would be understandable from a morale perspective. But to give up a guy with a curveball like this while paired with an elite velocity fastball is a difficult proposition.

That curveball has batters flailing away to a batting average of .119 and a slugging of just .238. Professional hitters turn into pitchers at the plate when faced with Kela’s curveball. There have been just five hits off the curve this year, curiously all of them are doubles.

In this era of more attention rightly being paid to mental health, wouldn’t it be a more prudent investment on the Pirates’ part to help Kela with some therapy, in order to preserve a high-end asset in the bullpen' That may seem somewhat transactional in nature, but the Pirates are a business and Kela is an asset. Some assets need more management than others. If Kela’s personality issues can be minimized, that helps him in the long run, while helping the Pirates in the short run.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see him traded as soon as the World Series is over, either.