The Pittsburgh Pirates declined their $11M option on Chris Archer, making the right-hander a free agent, per Jason Mackey of PGSportsNow (via Twitter).
The 32-year-old’s last big-league action came in 2019 when he went 3-9 with a 5.19 ERA/5.02 FIP in 119 2/3 innings over 23 starts with 10.8 K/9 to 4.1 BB/9. The Pirates hoped Archer could anchor their rotation, but a 0.8 rWAR season wasn’t enough to make an substantive impact for the Buccos.
Declining Archer’s option likely means the end of a disappointing era in Pittsburgh. Much was heaped onto Archer’s shoulders after being acquired from the Rays for soon-to-be stars Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and prospect Shane Baz. The 2018 deadline deal was doomed from the start, as Glasnow by himself arguably outperformed Archer down the stretch in that season alone with 0.6 rWAR to Archer’s 0.5 rWAR. Add in the years of control the Rays have for Glasnow, Meadows, and Baz (who has yet to debut) – not to mention Glasnow and Meadows critical role in helping the Rays to win the 2020 AL pennant – and the Pirates overpay for Archer couldn’t be more clear.
Even without the added expectations of the trade, it’s difficult to view Archer’s time with the Pirates as anything but a disappointment. He’ll finish with a 6-12 record with a 4.62 ERA in 172 innings across 33 starts.
All that said, there’s hope for Archer’s future. In all likelihood, he’s looking at a short-term contract to prove himself, but he will definitley be an arm to watch as a potential rebound candidate, as MLBTR’s own Steve Adams wrote about in March. Over his 8-year career with the Rays and Pirates, the former Indians and Cubs farmhand owns a 68-80 record with a 3.86 ERA over 1,235 innings.
To the Angels!
The ghost of Billy Eppler is all ready to sign him.
Bloom will be all over this, nobody knows Archer better than him. Cue Peaches & Herb.
Yea so Bloom knows Archer stinks
Anybody notice the Rays are really good at judging talent and swinging deals?
WORST. TRADE. EVER.
The Archer trade from the Cubs to the Rays?
Wise guy…
Actually, Theo got some good reliever years when he traded Garza to Texas.
Neil Ramirez 2014
Justin Grimm 2015
Carl Edwards 2016-2018
We’ll see if Brad Wieck (the return for Edwards) can pick it up again in 2021.
Deal-WORST HYPERBOLE EVER.
Ask the Red Sox about the Ruth trade.
How about Ernie Broglio for Lou Brock?
Who do you think got the better of the Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas trade?
This turned out to be a bad trade but there have been far worse ones.
Glasgow and Meadows both had down years so the HOF quit calling them.Baz has not reached the ML yet after four years.They are enough to prove it lopsided but this one is far from the worst trade ever.
as terrible as the frank robinson trade was (and it’s a bad one), reds did sorta salvage it, once you look a bit further (they trade pappas to the braves a few years later, get clay carroll out of it, who has several good years for the reds after coming over).
Carrol for Pappas was not a bad trade at all. Pappas was in Atlanta for 2 and a half season but he gave them really good production.
Pappas still was a decent pitcher,and Carroll was a fine reliever for the Reds,but Robinson was the key to the start of some great Orioles teams,and a subsequent first ballot HOF.
As I said,the HOF has quit calling Meadows and Glasnow.The jury will be out on them in this regard for many years.
It definitely was a lopsided trade for the Rays. Neither may go down as truly great players, but if they’re serviceable starters for several years (which they’ve already proven to be at worst) it’s an even greater win for the Rays.
Shields for Tatis Jr?
At the time the White Sox trading away a 16 year old Tatis to the Padres for Shields made sense for both teams. The Padres wanted to get rid of Shields contract and picked up half of it while the White Sox had Anderson as the next short stop ahead of Tatis and we’re looking for another pitcher in the rotation that year to compete in their division. Needless to say, not one person knew who Tatis was at that time. Tatis was just a 16 year old and not ranked in the top 100 prospects.
DeShields Sr. For Pedro. Period.
Ryne Sandberg, Larry Bowa for DeJesus? Thank you very much.
Curt Schilling, Pete Harnisch, and Steve Finley for Glenn Davis
Or Jeff Bagwell for Larry Andersen
No one knew Bagwell would start taking roids.
I’m surprised there are not more of these PED dependent players that made trades look bad.
There are many of those Roid deals but many have not connected the dots or refuse to say it out loud. Steve Finley has to be another one. I remember when Glen Davis was dealt. It was a shock. Like if the Braves traded Freeman. With the Orioles’ luck, injuries ruined Davis’ tenure there.
Meadows and Glasgow are having fairly good years in Tampa. Injuries have always derailed Meadows while a farmhand in the ‘Burgh. Meadows is one of the true contributors in Tampa while on the field. Glasgow had control issues in the majors while with Pittsburgh. He seems to be finding himself in Tampa and appears to be a top of the rotation piece. Baez, he was a A ball pitcher in Pittsburgh and it seems he hasn’t figured it out elsewhere. That is common among A Ball players. Now…….
Archer turn, after the trade and Pittsburgh in the running for the playoffs. Archer busted immediately upon arrival. He never held up to a “blockbuster” trade for the Pirates. The guy that as a reminder why Pirates shouldn’t trade their system for a guy with questions like Archer. Other teams weren’t offering what Pittsburgh did for a reason and that is Archer wasn’t valued and seen as a top rotation starter.
End conclusion, worst trade since Ruth.
Gerrit Cole trade is close to the worst trades of all time. At least a few pieces in that trade have been serviceable to Pittsburgh. Musgrove and Moran have had some sort of success in Pittsburgh
No one thinks the Gerrit Cole trade was any good for Pitt—but it’s nowhere near the worst of all time.
You even refuted it yourself by saying that Musgrove and Moran have had some success.
Hope you’re not a lawyer lol
Lefty-IMO whenever someone uses a term like “all time” they are generally either naive,lacking of historic knowledge,have an axe to grind,do not understand historic context,just plain stupid,or often a combination of parts or all of some of these reasons.There are many posters saying trades that ended up way worse than these two bad to mediocre Pirates trades will end up.
No one knows what the Pirates were offered for Cole but anyone with half a brain knows that no one offered high ranking prospects for him for whatever reason.
Don’t forget Jim Fregosi for Nolan Ryan or Rick Wise for Steve Carlton
The Red Sox didn’t trade for Babe Ruth. The Sox’ cash-strapped owner, Harry Frazee, sold his contract to the Yankees’ owner, Jacob Ruppert, for $100,000 and a $300,000 personal loan from Ruppert to Frazee.
And it gets better (from The New York Times):
What made it “the greatest financial swindle since the purchase of the Louisiana Territory,” Haupert said, was Ruppert’s willingness to gamble $300,000 of his own money in the form of a personal loan to Harry Frazee, who in return put up Fenway Park as collateral.
“Ruppert paid $108,750 with interest,” Haupert said. “Frazee borrowed $300,000 at 7 percent a year, or $21,000 annually. After five years, he had paid more than $115,000 in interest out of his own pocket. And Ruppert had the deed for Fenway! He was a genius and Frazee was desperate. Bottom line: The Red Sox actually paid the Yankees to take Babe Ruth.”
What’s more: Ruppert got Frazee to pay half of the raise Ruth had demanded when, as an inducement, the Yankees promised to double his salary on the two remaining years of his Red Sox contract.
Even recently, the White Sox trade of Tatis, Jr., for Shields is worse, while their trade of Quintana for Eloy and Cease could prove more lopsided (fortunately, in their favor). There’s also the Marlins getting hosed in the Yelich trade. The Archer trade was bad, no doubt, but there’s no way it’s the worst trade ever. It’s at most the 2nd worst trade in the last four years.
Not even close. Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps.
Or Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe for Heathcliff Slocum.
Wow.
Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi ….worse!
Oh, c’mon, now. The Pirates make some sweet decisions that make sure they remain where they are comfortable…well without the pressure of contending.. The Pirates are like the Orioles of the NL. Both are brilliantly terrible and content to remain so. Besides, why are so many people taking the original post as literally as possible? Without a doubt, acquiring Archer was a terrible move. I always thought that guy was overrated, anyway, but he bottomed out in Pittsburgh.
Chief,in answer to your question,because some of these posts are ridiculously ludicrous.
You can see all of the off the cuff responses naming clearly worse trades to see why.
Most lopsided trade ever:
Fred McGriff, Dave Collins and Mike Morgan to the Blue Jays for Tom Dodd and Dale Murray. Thank you Yankees.
Super wow.
Was it a worse trade than the 1997 trade of Pedro Martinez from Montreal to Boston for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr.?
With most trades, you have to appraise them in hindsight, not in the immediate aftermath of the trade. Pedro owned a 117-37 record and a 2.52 ERA over seven seasons with the Red Sox and won Game 3 of the 2004 World Series that ended “the curse.”
Martinez had just 1 year of control when he was traded. He would have walked away in FA after 1 season. They had zero shot at resigning him.
The Expos won that trade, getting years of control of 2 ML arms for a guy that would have walked away with zero return after just 1 more season.
Some time back I wanted him on the Astros but now I don’t know.
Unless they’ve figured out a way for pitchers to cheat too… I doubt he’ll be of much help.
Cole returned to Cy Young caliber pitching in Houston.
Returned? He was never a cy young pitcher before HOU…had flashes but he didn’t go back into a cy young pitcher…
Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlamder, and Zack Greinke have all rebounded to Cy Young caliber pitchers on the Astros. Something is up.
@threefires42 you are incorrect. One year Cole was in the CY Young running with the Pirates. A guy name Kershaw won it even though the Pirates had the second best record in the league
Shannon-threefires is the one who is correct.
Yes,Cole was an excellent pitcher for a year or two of the five but injuries and two mediocre teams plus his youth and demeanor kept him from becoming anywhere near a CY pitcher.
Bret Strom is a good pitching coach, maybe he’s the reason for their recent sucess.
Id be really interested in how hed do after going there with what theyve done for verlander and cole.
Cole was a good pitcher before,then became an excellent one,for whatever reasons.
Verlander was always a great pitcher.The Astros were just smart enough to know that in advance.
One note. Verlander went from an ERA of 3.82 in DET in 2017 to an ERA of 1.06 in HOU, then 2.52, 2.58 in ’18 and ’19. He found a new gear in HOU. No doubt about it. Just like Cole. There’s something in the water in HOU.
Like a much better defense than Detroit to suppress runs and a much better offense than Detroit to get early leads and generally give your pitcher confidence that the game is never out of hand? Same for Pittsburgh.
Check out Verlander’s last few starts in Detroit before being traded. He found that “new gear” while still a Tiger.
It’s almost like that team cheated or something…if you think pitchers knowing their team has that advantage doesn’t affect their own their confidence and overall pitching on the mound, you are kidding yourself. If there is something in the Houston water, you can bet it is artificial. It must be nice knowing the other team’s lead will not likely last due to all the cheating. It’s amusing how far up their own arses Houston fans have had to stick their heads.
Verlander never pitched close to 1.06 for a season. Now you are just making stuff up. Typical Houston fan.
@Chief, He never said it was for a full season. Check the stats. He threw five games for the Astros after going there in 2017 and had a 1.06 ERA for them. Maybe try understanding what you read before making accusations.
the dramatic comedy is complete
Sad. Pittsburgh fans didn’t need or deserve that. Over the 1 1/3 years he pitched with them, he should have won at least 18 games for them. That would have been equitable. Enough to warrant exercising the option. But this? Just sick.
That being said, I realize his prior performance gave no hint he would or should perform that well. I just wish the Pittsburgh ownership, which tried to do right by the fans but were just limited by resources and perhaps incompetent, had succeeded. For the sake of the fans. For the small market fans. Just wish they’d caught lightning in a bottle. I went to college near there. Back when the Steelers won 4 and the Pirates did “We Are Family”! Good times…
Mo-A nice sentiment on the Pirates,which is appreciated,but the Rays came the closest to catching lightning in a bottle this year.So much for the small market teams winning a WS.
Good point. Although I’m a Yankees fan and there’s supposedly fierce enmity between the Yankees and Rays these days, I rooted for the Rays in the WS. That having been said, I’m not all upset with the Dodgers winning. They’ve been waiting since ’88, so…. good feelings there, too.
what college?
Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. Late seventies. In fact I’m listening to seventies music right now. Mix playlist. Eric Clapton up right now. 🙂
The college of a US president-William McKinley!
Ding ding ding ding ding! A beautiful small liberal arts college. Campus is a national botanical garden. Competitive. Sports-wise not so much, but academically it always was. Don’t know any more. A lot of small liberal arts colleges have been hard in recent years, and with Covid…. I do know they took students in on campus this fall, as challenging as that is. Felt they had to to survive. I have a college friend who teaches there.
…..watch for a reunion with the Rays…. the salt in the Pirates wound…
Know -I can assure you that the Pirates have moved on.
That management group is longer there at the very least.
Any executives with any success move on from their mistakes anyway.
You definitely spelled definitely as definitley. Spelling checkers needed
Don’t you love MLBTR? I know I do.
I sure love MLBTR. This is a service that we don’t even have to pay for so I figure I can over look the occasional spelling error.
Give him a break. What else is a person supposed to do with an English degree? There are only so many proofreading jobs around.
I was very disappointed that , having graduated with a BA in Philosophy, that there were no want ads in the newspaper looking for a philosopher.
To be is to do-Plato
To do is to be-Socrates
Do be do be-Sinatra
Scooby Dooby Doo -Scooby Doo
Come on Rangers. Him and Kluber should be the two names at the top of our starters list this off-season. Not a flashy name anymore, but on a league minimum deal, I see more pros than cons.
It’s kind of saddening just how awful he became in 2 years’ time. He’ll join a backwater team like the Royals or Orioles that needs pitching.
Backwater?
I will have you know the Chesapeake is not backwater, it is clean as a whistle and pristine!
SMH
Backwater is not dirty water. It means “off the beaten path,” “not quite prime time” location.
I just looked and it can also mean stagnant water and stagnant water can….smell like low tide at a warehouse to paraphrase Jim Malone aka Sean Connery in the Untouchables
when i was going to college in missouri we used back waters as country side..
One of the most overrated players in recent memory. He got talked about like he was an ace because he got a lot of strikeouts but has never been anything special.
well, he was a pretty good pitcher for a few years. just seemed to hit a wall…and then another one.
most overrated player in baseball
Definitely one of the worst trades of the era not just in terms of of a straight up talent exchange but how bad the timing of it was on the part of the Pirates.
They had like a good 2 week stretch in 2018 and thought they were contenders. Trades made by delusional small market teams that think they contenders always tend to be especially awful because it depletes their already limited resources, reminds me of a newer version of the Expos trade for Bartolo Colon.
“Trades made by delusional small market teams that think they contenders always tend to be especially awful….”
The alternative is to just let the opportunity pass. As if they come every day. I applaud the ownership for trying, even if it fails. The alternative is every bit as fraught with peril for a small market team. Slow rebuilds often just drag on and on and flounder and go nowhere. Pittsburgh is an especially difficult puzzle
There’s a time and a place for a move like that for a team like Pittsburgh. When they were actually good like they were in 2013 through 2015, they never made a move like that when they probably should have.
When they were a middling rebuilding team in 2018, they should have stayed the course instead of making a move like that.
Omg the stadium is the best!
Changed- You are correct.The 13? Game win streak caused them to think that they could go for it.The problem is that even if they make the playoffs they were not going to be good enough to advance far.At that time they still had a good outfield and Glasnow had hit a plateau.The Rays stole Baz but that could still be a moot point.
The 2013-2015 teams added up I believe to the second best team in baseball which is quite impressive for any team let alone a small market team.Their problem then was simple.The best team in baseball had been in their own division in the St Louis Cardinals.Not sure how they could have added then to get better.Some times there is just not an opportunity.
I wouldn’t say all such trades are like that, but the White Sox (who operate like a small-market team) traded Tatis, Jr., for Shields. I wouldn’t say it’s a flaw of only small-market teams, though. The Cubs paid for a half-season rental of Chapman with all the control of Torres. They won, but I contend they could have won anyway if they hadn’t mismanaged their BP badly during that WS. And they’d have a better hold over the NL Central now, maybe even another title. Long-term thinking involves risk, but short-term thinking is where you can really get hosed.
People forget that at the time Meadows has no place to play, after trying a 4 man outfield rotation that made all 4 suffer, he was easily expendable; & Glasnow was a wild, couldn’t get anybody out (you know, like in the WS) mess & his 8.00+ ERA was also expendable. Had to love both of their struggles in the WS, almost poetic justice.
This is one where I’d be ok with the Braves gambling.
If it works out great, if not use some young arms to showcase until the trade deadline and bring someone established in to pair with Soroka, Fried, and Anderson.
Or the Dodgers as they did with Jimmy Nelson and Alex Wood this year. Since the Dodgers and Braves are both in excellent shape with starting pitchers, they can afford to bring in a guy like Archer on a look-see/rehab deal. If he can’t make it back, you’ve invested very little. If he’s successful, he can give you valuable innings at some point during the season. These might be the teams most likely to do this. Don’t forget that Andrew Friedman has traded for him before and supposedly kicked the tires before Archer’s trade to Pittsburgh. AF has already brought other former Rays to the Dodgers, including RPs Adam Kolarek, Casey Sadler, and Dylan Floro and SP David Price in the Betts trade. He also acquired Travis d’Arnaud and then sold him to the Rays five days later. Friedman’s Tampa Bay pipeline has become something of a joke among Dodger fans. If not the Dodgers, the Braves would be a logical guess. Maybe Tampa Bay but I just don’t think so.
I can see Angels getting him but also can Dodgers going after him. They love those type of pitchers that are low risk high reward
Cardinals
Who cares? He’s shot anyway
Bullpen piece perfect
I have no idea why people have posted that any contender would look at signing Archer. He is coming off TO surgery. Do not think that a contender would waste even a minor league spot right now. Guessing a bottom feeder will sign him and hope that he is one of the few that had TO surgery and it worked.. he will be looking for a place that will give him a chance if he is healthy that he can pitch in the Bigs again. I could even see him resigning with the Pirates at a much lower number than he would have gotten in the option that was declined
Seems like Archer is done. He may not retire, but looking at his numbers, he’s not worth a starter spot on any club and may only be marginally valuable as a reliever. I understand all the reasons he probably won’t retire, but…. he should retire.
I could see him maybe getting a minor league deal that could be valued at, say, $1.125M pro rated if he’s called up to the majors at some point, but that’s about it.
He walks away with around $14M cash in career earnings after taxes and agent fees are taken out. I just don’t think he’ll make enough in salary if he keeps playing, to justify the grind that is baseball and no team needs pitching badly enough to waste a roster spot on him.
Good riddance.
Could be a serviceable arm and probably needed a year off to clear his head and potentially rest his arm. Houston would be a good landing spot. Have vets like Greinke and Verlander work with him. He needs leadership and direction.
Curious to see if AA shows any interest in bringing him in like he did with King Felix this year. If you could return him to even decent form, solid back-end guy without spending big cash when you’ve already got two ace starters up top.
Lost his ability to throw his Sinker in 2015, effectively making him a 1.5 pitch pitcher (a plus Slider and mediocre change) since the pitch he used to keep guys off balance on the otherwise very poor Four Seam was gone. Now it’s just sit back and wait for a very straight FB or mediocre Change to pound
As more and more hitters figured the lack of options and new tendencies out, more and more hitters have been able to tee off on him, leading to a consistent under performing of his peripherals, and a very quick decline.
Pittsburgh was smart to try and see if he could throw the sinker again, but they should have known there was a reason he so quickly abandoned such an integral pitch to his arsenal in 2015.
I think he needs a move to the pen, where maybe the lack of innings could possibly result in him adding velocity. His FB will still be straight as an arrow, but if he could add some speed it might help at least. I dont see how he continues in a rotation with such poor stuff tthough. Trying to see if he could throw his Sinker again was the last hope he had as a starter, and it failed, miserably.
Phillies.. ? If he’s healthy and really wanting to rebuild his value on a contender.
They need to remove the “6-12 record” part from this article. Really.
I could see the Mariners giving him a one year deal, full of incentives. Similar to what they did with Taijuan Walker. He would add some experience to Gonzales, Sheffield, Dunn, Margevicius, and Kikuchi. Easily tradeable at the deadline and doesn’t block any of the top prospect arms.
hopefully they resign him. He didn’t get a shake with the new staff this year. I like they guy and if he doesn’t get a contract elsewhere i’d bring him back with incentives and an option. He does well great! he does poorly well each side gave it a shot..
Carl Pavano and PTBNL for Pedro Martinez was a bit lopsided as it turned out
No it wasn’t, at all
Martinez had just 1 year of control left. He was going to be a FA in 1999, and Montreal could have never resigned him
So they traded 1 single season of Martinez
Armas – 7.8 fWAR over his controlled time
Pavano – 2.6 fWAR (before traded himself)
Total – 10.4 fWAR
Martinez – 7.3 fWAR in 1998
The Expos won the trade by 3.1 fWAR, plus saved millions of dollars and received whatever value Pavano held in his subsequent trade.
That is what you call a smart deal by a small market team.
Dark- that is the unfortunate dilemma that the small market teams who usually are in the position of not having the money to pay the extremely good players that they have.
The problem with the mega contracts is that there is no guarantee that the player isn’t clearly going past his prime in his early thirties like what happened to Andrew McCutcheon.He is still a good player,but not worth the$50 M bite as far as on field performance is c9ncerned for a small market team although a good investment in certain respects for a team like the Phillies.
This why a trade like the Cole deal is not nearly as bad as continuously criticized as the Pirates have a good #3 and a serviceable infielder as a result of it.
Wouldn’t mind the Mets giving him a shot.
Honestly, I think you should. The Mets have better options out there and, with a couple more pieces, could be in serious contention. Not the right time to take a gamble on a guy who looks like he’s just done. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d guess he’s more likely to catch on with a team who can afford to give him a long leash, like the Tigers, on a one-year deal to rebuild some value.