The Pirates announced that they have signed right-hander to five-year contract extension. The deal was by Jeff Pa san and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. Its a $77MM guarantee for the 27-year-old righty, . Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the new contract includes the 2024 campaign and runs through 2028. The Tidal Sports Group client had previously been slated to reach free agency following the 2025 campaign. Keller had already agreed to a one-year, $5.4425MM deal for the upcoming season, avoiding an arbitration hearing in the proce s. As such, hell be guaranteed four years and $71.5575MM in new money. reports the financial breakdown. While Kellers salary for 2024 is unchanged, he also collects a $2.0575MM signing bonus. Hell make $15MM in 2025, $16.5MM in 26, $18MM in 27 and $20MM in 2028. That aligns closely with the four-year, $73.5MM extension between the Twins and a year ago. Lopez, like Keller now, had between four and five years of big league service at the time of the agreement. shows several other comps of note, including s five-year, $64.5MM deal with the Rockies. A 2014 second-round pick and longtime top prospect, Keller has taken major steps forward over the past two seasons, pitching to a combined 4.08 ERA in 353 1/3 innings. That solid but unspectacular ERA masks some more promising underlying trends. Kellers Aaron Barrett Jersey 2022 season took off when he added a sinker to his arsenal in mid-May, helping to take some pre sure off what had been a rather hittable four-seam fastball. He was dominant for the first two-thirds of the 2023 season before stumbling with a handful of meltdown starts over the final couple months as he pitched to a new career-high workload (194 1/3 frames). That ugly start in 2022 and similarly rocky finish in 2023 bookend a stretch of 41 starts that underscore the upside the Pirates are chasing with this signing. At his best from 22-23, Keller rattled off a stretch of 240 1/3 innings of 3.25 ERA ball, fanning 23.5% of his opponents against a sharp 7.9% walk rate and strong 48.4% ground-ball rate. And even with the tough finish to his 2023 campaign, Keller ended the year with career-best marks in strikeout rate (25.5%), walk rate (6.7%), average exit velocity (87.7 mph) and hard-hit rate (35.6%). There are plenty of arrows pointing up with regard to the 62, 220-pound righty, and the Bucs surely view him as someone capable of that low-3.00s ERA who can team with 2023 No. 1 overall pick to anchor the rotation moving forward. Skenes figures to debut this summer, and the Keller extension gives the organization a chance at a dynamic one-two punch atop the staff for the foreseeable future. For the 2024 season, the Bucs rotation will also include veterans and , though neither lefty is guaranteed anything beyond the current campaign. (Gonzales has a $15MM club option with no buyout.) The Pirates ability to either develop or acquire sufficient rotation help beyond the 24 season will be critical to their chances of reversing a nearly decade-long run of losing baseball at PNC Park. Prospects like , , , , and give the Pirates a solid stock of promising young arms alongside Skenes. Each of Skenes, Jones and Chandler has garnered some top-100 fanfare this season (as Priester has in the past). Of course, the Pirates history of developing starting pitching has been suspect, at best. Much of the struggles came under the now-former front office regime, but weve seen touted talents like , , and all struggle to reach their ceilings with the Bucs before being traded. Cole, Glasnow and Musgrove, in particular, broke out with their new clubs. Even Keller took a long road to reach the form that led to todays five-year agreement. Itll be imperative for the Pirates that they improve their development of young pitchers and/or find help outside the organization. Notably, theyve been in constant contact with the Marlins about Miamis bevy of young pitchers and have explored other trade po sibilities as well. Keller joins outfielder and third baseman as core pieces the Pirates have signed to long-term deals over the past few years. Its a breath of fresh air for Bucs fans whod grown accustomed to seeing their best players traded as their arbitration prices escalated. The long-term deals signed by each player dont nece sarily preclude eventual trades as evidenced by but its neverthele s an encouraging trend for Pittsburgh fans to see a trio of extensions that each top $70MM in guaranteed money, considering their $60MM extension with back in 2000 stood as the richest in franchise history for upwards of two decades. Each of Keller, Reynolds and Hayes are now signed through at least the 2028 season the same year that the teams control windows over shortstop and outfielder extend. That quintet, paired with Skenes and catchers and , could form the nucleus of the Pirates next contending club. Reynolds seven-year, $100MM extension and Hayes eight-year, $70MM pact are both generally affordable, even by the Pirates modest standards, which should give the Bucs flexibility to supplement that core in other ways. Its unlikely the Pirates ever dive into the deep end of the free agent market. But if owner Bob Nutting ever decides hes finally comfortable spending in even the second tiers of the open market s three-year, $39MM contract is the largest free agent signing in Pirates history the Pirates would have the chance to complement their growing foundation with some meaningful talent and break away from their lengthy run near or at the bottom of the NL Central. Sam Clay Jersey