The Pirates will pick up right-hander Chris Archer’s $9MM club option for the 2020 season, Nubyjas Wilborn of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. Pittsburgh could have paid Archer a $1.75MM buyout but will now have him locked in for the upcoming season. His contract also contains an $11MM option (with a $250K buyout) for the 2021 campaign.
Archer, 31, simply hasn’t panned out as hoped in Pittsburgh. The Buccos shipped prospects Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and Shane Baz to Tampa Bay in order to acquire three and a half cost-controlled seasons of Archer in what now looks like one of the more regrettable deals in recent memory. Both Glasnow and Meadows have flourished with the Rays, while Archer has given the Pirates a combined 172 innings of 4.92 ERA ball in his season and a half wearing black and yellow.
Archer was long seen as a pitcher with some yet-untapped upside, and the friendly nature of his contract surely made him all the more appealing for recently fired general manager Neal Huntington and a Pirates front office that is regularly working under some of the game’s tightest payroll restrictions. Whether the Bucs would’ve been so motivated to acquire Archer with more financial support from ownership can’t be known — just as it’s impossible to tell whether Glasnow and/or Meadows would’ve broken out to the same extent in Pittsburgh as they did in St. Petersburg. The bottom-line result, however, is a trade that has paid major dividends for the Tampa Bay organization but not for Pittsburgh. The ill-fated swap surely contributed to owner Bob Nutting’s recent organizational shakeup, which saw Huntington dismissed and assistant GM Kevan Graves tabbed as interim general manager.
The Pirates initially pushed Archer to dust off a two-seam fastball that he’d shelved years ago with the Rays, and the results weren’t pretty. The right-hander eventually scrapped that pitch over the summer and returned to a four-seam-heavy approach with his heater, though the results weren’t exactly encouraging. Archer pitched to a 4.65 ERA in 12 starts (60 innings) after ditching that pitch, although his strikeout rate (31.4 percent) and swinging-strike rate (13.6 percent) upon changing his pitch selection were markedly better than they were with the two-seamer. A shoulder injury, however, halted Archer’s season in late August.
Given his average velocity in that time (94.4 mph) and those encouraging swinging-strike trends, Archer could yet appeal to clubs who hope to coax better results out of the right-hander. Moving him now would clearly be selling low and would net a much lesser return than what the Pirates initially surrendered, but trade options for contenders seeking rotation help this winter are limited. If the Bucs opt to hold onto him in hopes of building some value in the season’s first half, Archer would likely emerge as a trade candidate next summer, so long as he proves healthy.
Worst trade of the last 5 years, made the Rays contenders and Pirates are reeling!
More than 5 years. Potentially the worst trade in franchise history.
I don’t know, that’s tough to say. They also traded away Aramis Ramirez and Jose Bautista while they were in their primes, and got nothing in return on both trades. This century has been a bad one for Pirates trades.
They didn’t trade Joey Bats in his prime. He hit 15 homers in 614 PA’s in 2007 with the Bucs. He was traded the following year while hitting 15 in 424 PA’s and then hit 13 homers in 404 PA’s in 2009 with the Blue Jays. He broke out in 2010 with 54 homers. A full year and a half after the trade. No one saw that coming.
That’s fair, and I guess I’m wrong, but they still gave up on a player with that sort of potential too early, just as they had with Glasnow and Meadows. It doesn’t excuse the results
I would not count Bautista as an all time horrible trade. He never had shown much power, even in the minors for the Bucs. Still was doing not much in the way of power even in his first full season with the Jays. Went from a career high of 16 HR to 54 in his age 29 season. Was not like the Bucs did not give him opportunities because they did. No one saw that one coming. Ramirez was a pure salary dump. The whole league knew that the Bucs needed to dump his salary because of major debt issues. On top of that Ramirez was horrible in the field Finally figured it out after a couple of seasons with the Cubs.
Archer struggled mightily last season but he’s still worth every bit of that $9 million. There are plenty of pitchers who turned in much worse seasons that were paid much more.
Just because some pitchers turned in worse seasons for more money doesn’t mean Archer is worth the $9 million.
It’s essentially $7.25 million with the buyout so I would take a 4.50 era for that $$
Hahh ok
Archer is a 4 starter at best. He has always been over rated but now everyone knows it.
Yap – trade him to the White Sox. Carson Fulmer and Sánchez
He is not worth $9 million. He stinks. You are better off signing someone else for that $9m. Pitcher like Archer with over a 5 ERA are not worth having on your team.
Is it just me or does it seem the last few years the Pirates pushed the use of the 2 seam fastballs heavily on pitchers. I believe I read a lot of stories (correct me if I’m wrong) of pitchers doing better once they scrapped the 2 seamer (besides Archer), and usually once they were out of Pittsburgh.
It has worked for some (Burnet, Morton, Liriano) and hasn’t for others under Searage.
The Angels should pick up Calhoun’s option and trade him straight up for some innings eater with 1-2 years left on his deal like Archer. Archer would command a multi year commitment in free agency so finding a comparable arm with a smaller commitment would be ideal. Of course they should also go after some bigger free agents, but they need to get a #4, #5 pitcher as well that has proven to be able to stay healthy. Calhoun for Archer would help both teams.
“Archer would command a multi year commitment in free agency…”
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Says who?
It appears to me that were Archer a free agent, he would at best get a low one year contract with incentives, and a team option for the second year.
He wouldn’t even be offered the contract Matt Harvey got last winter……which should be a lesson to any team thinking of signing Archer…..and the Angels gave Harvey that contract, and got screwed big time.
As for Kole Calhoun – he’s due $14m in 2020. What reality are you living in that you think the Pirates can/would pay that salary to a guy that has had the last 2 years that Calhoun had. Last year they signed Lonnie Chisenhall for $2.7m. If he’s healthy this year, they can get him for less then that…..and he’ll very probably out produce Calhoun.
No one is going to trade for Calhoun.
The Angels tried unsuccessfully to find someone foolish enough to take his costs last year when they had their backs against Arte’s financial wall.
Angels would be much smarter declining the option. Not sure I f they’ll be that smart, however, as they have this odd fascination with him it seems.
The Angels and the word “smarter” should never appear in the same sentence. Might be the worst run franchise in all of MLB.
They should trade Trout for a bundle of prospects. Sans doing anything else, they can finish around .500 with or without Trout.
The Kenny Lofton trade was one of the Pirates worst trades.
More like the Aramis Ramirez trade.
Chris Archer is the salt and vinegar chip of the baseball snackiverse
Been saying for a long time around here that Archer is nothing without that 2-seam he long ago lost the ability to throw. It was the pitch that set up his others and allowed him to look impressive, and its been all downhill since he was forced to scrap it
The fact the Pirates traded for him with the idea they’d reintroduce it into his arsenal shows all the clubs likely know this about Archer. Problem is, it worked just as poorly as you’d expect – he stopped throwing it for a reason in the first place, after all.
A 2 pitch starter just doesn’t work, especially when neither are that impressive. He needs a move to the pen, where ideally he can scale it up over short bursts.
But at 9 million, that is an expensive gable to make on a pen arm, even if the Pirates were willing to make that move (which it appears they are not, and will instead watch him again be an expensive, high-profile back end starter)
There was no chance the Pirates weren’t going to pick up this option. I’m sure there are hopes that he’ll show something through the first half to command some type of return at the deadline. We all know it will be a small return, but that’s better than no return by letting him walk. They gave up WAY too much to acquire him just to let him walk. They’ll try to save face by trotting him out there every 5 days and hope for the best.
For years, all the fans and media here did was clamor for a big trade and insist that the Pirates were too “in love” with their own prospects and you have to give something to get something.
In 2018, many of them specifically called for the team to get Archer.
By that point, not one person in town thought Glasnow would ever become anything.
Just for the record, as all of this history has been rewritten here.
Having said that…bringing him back makes no sense. The fans don’t support him and the new management will have no investment in him. It sets him up for failure, which all but assures it. None of it is fair to him.
Trade him now (or when and if you ever hire a GM) for the best prospect (best single prospect, not a pile of maybes) you can.
Are the pirates a major league team? Lol. They have money and need to spend on better talent. That 9 million could have bought a better picture. Bob sucks donkey d.ck.
I think it’s time MLB gives fans a little hope by re-designing divisions. I mean, a division with the Pirates, Orioles, Tigers and Marlins is the epitome of baseball excitement
army, it’s not costing the Pirates 9 million for Archer. The buyout was $1.75, therefore it’s only costing $7.25 to keep him on the roster. That’s chump change for MLB teams. Here’s to hoping he strings some starts together in the first half to generate some interest by the deadline.
Glasnow has not flourished. He was injured most of 2019 on he injured list and only started 12 games. The fact that it was a forearm strain that shut him down for 4 months points to impending Tommy John surgery in his future. .
He hasn’t flourished, but he has shown a lot upside. Giving Meadows away was unforgivable but throwing a guy who hits 99 on the gun, along with Baz, lacked any sense.
I would have liked them to buy him out and use the money saved towards signing a better pitcher.