Chris Archer

AL Injury Notes: Anderson, Rays, Cabrera, Schmidt

By Connor Byrne | April 12, 2021 at 7:30pm CDT

The latest injury updates from the American League…

The White Sox expect to activate shortstop Tim Anderson from the injured list when he’s first eligible Thursday, manager Tony La Russa told Scott Merkin of MLB.com and other reporters. The former batting champion has been down since April 5 with a strained left hamstring, and the White Sox have turned to a combination of Leury Garcia and Danny Mendick in Anderson’s absence. Garcia has gotten off to a terrible start this year, while Mendick has been great over an admittedly tiny sample size of 12 plate appearances.
The Rays placed right-hander Chris Archer on the IL on Saturday with forearm tightness, but they’re optimistic he won’t miss too much time, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relays. While Archer won’t throw during the next few days, the hope is that he’ll return to the mound by the end of next week. Archer, with whom the Rays reunited on a $6.5MM guarantee in free agency, has been limited to two appearances and 4 1/3 innings in the early going.
More on the Rays from Topkin, who writes that center fielder Kevin Kiermaier ran “at about 70 percent” Monday and could return to their lineup within a week. Kiermaier went on the IL on April 6 with a left quad strain, and the Rays have since used a combination of Manuel Margot and Brett Phillips in center.
The left biceps strain that sent Tigers designated hitter/first baseman Miguel Cabrera to the iL over the weekend is mild, Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets. The Tigers are hopeful that Cabrera will miss “the shortest amount possible.” Cabrera came out of the gates slowly before the injury, as the future Hall of Famer has hit .125/.222/.292 in 27 plate appearances this season.
Yankees righty Clarke Schmidt, who is dealing with an elbow strain, received a cortisone injection Monday, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. He could go back to throwing either this week or next if all goes according to plan. Schmidt was only supposed to sit out four weeks when he went on the shelf in February, but his injury hasn’t healed as quickly as expected.

Rays Place Chris Archer On Injured List, Call Up Brent Honeywell

By TC Zencka | April 10, 2021 at 4:11pm CDT

The Rays placed Chris Archer on the injured list after he left today’s ballgame. Brent Honeywell will be called up, and he will make his Major League debut opening Sunday’s game, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter).

It wasn’t clear at the time of the injury what exactly happened to Archer, but the injury was apparently severe enough to act quickly in placing him on the injured list. Today was just the second outing of the year for the 32-year-old. Archer suffered right lateral forearm tightness, per ESPN’s Marly Rivera (via Twitter), who adds that the Rays hope Archer will miss just one start.

Honeywell has long been a top prospect for the Rays, but injuries have slowed his path to the Majors. Baseball America had him ranked among the Rays’ top prospects in every season since 2015. He landed in their top-100 prospects in baseball from 2016 to 2020, peaking at No. 14 overall before the 2018 season. Tomorrow will mark an incredible achievement for Honeywell, even if he is unable to become the star hurler the Rays once hoped. Still, expectations are high, and if Honeywell can stay healthy, he still is projected to become a capable piece of the rotation. That said, chances are he’s not on the roster to stay. The Rays will understandably watch his inning count closely.

Chris Archer Leaves Game Due To Forearm Tightness

By Mark Polishuk | April 10, 2021 at 3:40pm CDT

3:40PM: “Fortunately, it’s nothing serious,” Archer told the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin and other reporters. Cash also sounded optimistic, saying that Archer could only have tendinitis and might miss just one start, though an injured list stint is likely.

2:11PM: Archer left the game due to right lateral forearm tightness, the team announced.

1:41PM: Chris Archer exited today’s start against the Yankees due to an apparent injury. After DJ LeMahieu’s one-out double in the third inning, Archer was visited on the mound by Rays manager Kevin Cash and the team trainer. That ended Archer’s day after 42 pitches and 2 1/3 scoreless innings (four strikeouts, three hits, no walks).

While there hasn’t yet been any word on the nature of Archer’s injury, it doesn’t bode well that the right-hander has run into another issue in the wake of a lost 2020 season. Archer missed all of last year after undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, and was also limited to 119 2/3 innings with the Pirates in 2019 due to thumb and shoulder problems. Between Nick Anderson, Chaz Roe, and Pete Fairbanks, the Rays have already taken a lot of injury hits to their bullpen this season, and now a potential absence for Archer threatens their rotation depth.

Archer signed a one-year, $6.5MM free agent deal with the Rays in February, returning to the site of his early-career heyday. Archer was a two-time All-Star during his original stint in Tampa from 2012 until the 2018 trade deadline, when the Rays sent him to the Pirates in what is now one of the more infamous trades in Pittsburgh baseball history. Between Archer’s injuries and struggles with the Pirates, the team unsurprisingly declined their $11MM club option on his services last fall.

Rays Sign Chris Archer

By Connor Byrne | February 9, 2021 at 10:00am CDT

Feb. 9: Archer has passed his physical, and the deal is official, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. A formal announcement and a (re)introductory Zoom call will both come later today. The team won’t need to make an additional 40-man move to create roster space after trading Aaron Slegers to the Angels last night.

Feb. 2: Free-agent right-hander Chris Archer is returning to the Rays, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. It’s a one-year, $6.5MM contract, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. The deal is pending a physical. Archer is a client of VC Sports Group.

A 2006 fifth-round pick who opened his career with the Indians and Cubs organizations, Archer first joined the Rays in a significant trade with Chicago in January 2011. Archer was a highly regarded prospect at the time who wound up matching the hype in Tampa Bay, where he debuted in 2012 and was an eminently valuable member of its rotation for several years. Through 2018, the last year of his initial run with the franchise, Archer posted a 3.69 ERA/3.52 SIERA with a 25.8 percent strikeout rate and a 7.7 percent walk rate in 1,063 innings and 177 starts.

Despite the success Archer enjoyed as a Ray, the club decided to move on from him when his team control was dwindling before the 2018 trade deadline. That proved to be another brilliant trade by the Rays, who received two righties – Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz – as well as outfielder Austin Meadows from the Pirates in exchange for Archer. Glasnow and Meadows have since turned into major league building blocks for the Rays, while FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked Baz as their seventh-best prospect in a deep farm system last month.

The Archer trade was a disaster for Pittsburgh, meanwhile, as it lost three quality pieces for a player who disappointed in its uniform. The Pirates encouraged Archer to lean on his sinker, which did not work, as Steve Adams of MLBTR noted last offseason. Archer’s production dipped in the wake of the trade and got fell even more in 2019, when he registered career worsts in ERA (5.19), SIERA (4.38) and home run-to-fly ball percentage (20.2) in 119 2/3 innings. The hope was that Archer would bounce back last year, but he instead missed the season after undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in June. The Pirates then declined his $11MM club option for 2021 in favor of a $250K buyout.

Considering Archer’s recent performance and the severity of his procedure, the Rays are taking a big risk that he will return to being a viable starter. But it does look like a coup for the reigning American League champions that they’ve now reunited with the player they received such a massive return for just a couple of years ago. If healthy, the 32-year-old Archer may be able to help replace Blake Snell and Charlie Morton, whom the Rays’ rotation has lost since last season ended. He’s the second reclamation project the Rays’ starting staff has taken on in free agency, joining $3MM signing Michael Wacha.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL East Notes: Benintendi, Kluber, Rays

By Mark Polishuk | January 17, 2021 at 6:37pm CDT

Despite all of the trade speculation swirling around Andrew Benintendi, the Red Sox haven’t “reached a point of no return in trade talks,” The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier writes, and “there’s a solid chance, though not a guarantee” that Benintendi won’t be moved. One of the obstacles preventing a deal is the number of quality left field options remaining in free agency, so a team in need at the position might prefer to just sign a longer-term answer, rather than swing a trade with the Sox for a player who is only under team control for two more seasons. Speier notes that the Red Sox themselves could be such a team looking for a longer-term outfielder, and could explore the free agent market themselves if Benintendi is indeed dealt.

Quick Hits: Tigers, Turner, Rays, Archer, Dodgers, McCullough

By TC Zencka | December 12, 2020 at 6:40pm CDT

Tigers GM Al Avila wants to remain patient and disciplined this winter when it comes to augmenting their young core through free agency, writes Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. Detroit will look to add a catcher, corner outfielder and first baseman, as well as a pitcher or two – but all in due time. Detroit hasn’t posted a winning record since 2016, and they haven’t reached the postseason since a four-year run ended in 2015. Those playoff teams, of course, were led by formidable pitching staffs that included Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello, Anibal Sanchez, and others, as well as an all-time bat in Miguel Cabrera still in his prime. These Tigers don’t yet have that kind of offensive force, but they’ve begun to graduate some of their highly-touted arms, such as Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal. For now, let’s take Avila’s lead and not get too far ahead of ourselves. Elsewhere…

Justin Turner is seeking a three-year deal, per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. That might be a tough sell for the 36-year-old. Three years might be the ask for Turner, who is represented by GEM Agency, but it’s just as likely a starting point to give their side some wiggle room in negotiations. That said, Turner was a central piece for the World Series champs, slashing .307/.400/.460 across 175 plate appearances in 2020. That’s good for a 140 wRC+. The immediate concern, rather, relates to his viability at third base that far into the future. His glovework earned marks of -2 OAA in 2020 and -1 DRS, both of which are palatable marks. But if there’s significant regression coming for Turner, the glove is where to look first. Regardless, for those clubs looking to add an impact bat in 2021, there aren’t many better than Turner.
The Rays have discussed the possibility of a reunion with Chris Archer, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Given the Rays’ tendency to limit starter innings, they need the whole of the staff to be capable of soaking up innings. Archer could certainly help in that regard. Besides, if anyone knows what Archer is capable of, it would be Tampa Bay. For the present, however, the Rays are focused on players who might accept minor league contracts. The payroll likely is what it is, notes Topkin, meaning that if they’re going to add much in the way of salary, we should expect a matching expulsion. They need a catcher, of course, probably a couple, and more generally, GM Erik Neander wants the club to make more contact.
Clayton McCullough will replace George Lombard as the first base coach for the Dodgers, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). Lombard was named A.J. Hinch’s new bench coach in Detroit. The rest of the Dodgers’ coaching staff from 2020 are returning. McCullough has been with the Dodgers for seven seasons, serving recently as minor league field coordinator. Prior to joining the Dodgers, he managed at a number of different levels in the Blue Jays’ system.

Ben Cherington On Archer, Neverauskas, Cruz

By Connor Byrne | November 2, 2020 at 9:11pm CDT

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington spoke with reporters Monday as the team gears up for the offseason. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights…

Although the Pirates declined right-hander Chris Archer’s $11MM option over the weekend, his time with the franchise may not be up. Cherington said the Pirates are open to re-signing Archer at a lower cost, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette tweets. “Our relationship with Chris is in a good enough spot where we can keep that door cracked,” Cherington stated. “Certainly, he’ll want to listen and see what’s out there.” Archer had a well-documented disastrous run in Pittsburgh, which paid a fortune for him in a 2018 trade with Tampa Bay. He didn’t pitch at all this season after undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in June, though the 32-year-old could be an intriguing buy-low candidate.
The Pirates may have also moved on from righty Dovydas Neverauskas this past weekend when they designated him for assignment. The soon-to-be 28-year-old’s next destination could be overseas, according to Cherington, who revealed that there’s mutual interest between Neverauskas and “a team in Asia” (via Mackey). Neverauskas began with the Pirates organization in 2010, made his big league debut in 2017 and went on to log a 6.81 ERA/5.94 FIP with 8.59 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 80 2/3 innings with the club.
Infield prospect Oneil Cruz was arraigned in his native Dominican Republic in September as a result of a car crash that took the lives of three people. Cherington was unable to provide an update on Cruz’s legal situation, per Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. For now, the 22-year-old is slated to play Dominican winter ball for Gigantes del Cibao, the team announced.

Pirates Decline Option On Chris Archer

By TC Zencka | October 31, 2020 at 8:33pm CDT

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.

The Other Chris Archer Trades

By Connor Byrne | June 5, 2020 at 9:24pm CDT

Pirates right-hander Chris Archer has been among the most prominent major leaguers in the news this week. Archer just underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, meaning he won’t pitch until at least 2021. It also means his tenure could be done in Pittsburgh, which will have to decide between an $11MM club option and a $250K buyout next winter.

Archer’s surgery came as the latest disastrous development during his time with the Pirates, who made an ill-fated trade with the Rays to acquire him in July 2018. For the sake of Pirates fans, who have witnessed Archer struggle mightily in their favorite team’s uniform and have seen two of the players their club gave up flourish as Rays, we’re not going to recap that trade for the umpteenth time. But we are going to look back at other trades involving Archer. Long before he became a Pirate, Archer was part of a couple other notable deals.

First off, Archer entered the pros as a 17-year-old and a fifth-round pick of the Indians in 2006. Archer struggled to prevent runs as part of the Indians’ system through 2008, and after that season, the club traded him, righty Jeff Stevens and lefty John Gaub to the Cubs for infielder/outfielder Mark DeRosa. Cleveland didn’t get a full season out of DeRosa, whom the team flipped to the Cardinals in June 2009 after he batted a solid .270/.342/.457 in 314 plate appearances and 71 games as an Indian.

What of the Cubs’ return for DeRosa? Stevens combined for 37 1/3 innings of 6.27 ERA ball as a Cub from 2009-11. Gaub made even less of an impact in Chicago, with which he threw the only 2 2/3 innings of his career in 2011. Archer never appeared in the majors with the organization, but he turned around his fortunes as a Cubs minor leaguer and began cracking top 100 prospects lists as a member of the franchise. Still, that wasn’t enough for the Cubs to keep him.

After the 2010 season, when Archer topped out as Baseball America’s 27th-best prospect, the Cubs dealt him to the Rays in a blockbuster. Along with Archer, the Cubs surrendered shortstop prospect Hak-Ju Lee, catcher Robinson Chirinos, and outfielders Sam Fuld and Brandon Guyer for righty Matt Garza, outfielder Fernando Perez and lefty Zac Rosscup.

The Cubs got nothing from Perez, who never appeared in the majors with them, and very little from Rosscup (he posted a 5.32 ERA over 47 1/3 frames and parts of four seasons in their uniform). On the other hand, Garza was effective in Chicago from 2011-13. Though the team failed to push for the playoffs during that stretch, Garza turned in 372 2/3 innings of 3.45 ERA pitching with 8.6 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. However, as a non-contender in July 2013, Chicago sent Garza – a soon-to-be free agent – to Texas for third baseman Mike Olt and the righty trio of Carl Edwards Jr., Justin Grimm and Neil Ramirez.

As for the Rays’ return, Lee never made it to MLB, even though he was a highly regarded prospect in his younger days. He’s now playing with the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization. Chirinos has evolved into a fine offensive catcher, though he only took 60 plate appearances with the Rays in 2011 before they traded him to the Rangers two years later. Fuld played from 2011-13 in Tampa Bay, where he batted .230/.301/.326 in 653 attempts. Guyer appeared with the Rays in parts of four seasons from ’11-15 and slashed .255/.341/.396 over 978 PA.

While none of Lee, Chirinos, Fuld or Guyer offered especially valuable production as Rays, Archer thrived. He piled up 177 starts and amassed 1,063 innings of 3.69 ERA/3.48 FIP ball with 9.7 K/9 and 2.94 BB/9 as part of the team from 2011-18, during which he earned two All-Star nods and signed the six-year, $25.5MM extension he’s still playing under.

Many have been tough on Archer on account of what has been a rough run in Pittsburgh, but he’s the same player who once made the Rays look like geniuses for adding him. That makes his recent fall from grace all the more surprising, and it’s anyone’s guess whether a rebound will be in store in the wake of TOS surgery.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

A Bad Trade Gets Even Worse

By Connor Byrne | June 3, 2020 at 7:01pm CDT

Neither the Pirates nor their long-suffering fans needed more unfortunate news Wednesday, but they received some centering on one of the team’s most prominent players. The club announced that right-hander Chris Archer underwent the dreaded thoracic outlet syndrome surgery on Tuesday, meaning he won’t play in 2020 if there is a season.

While the team believes Archer will be ready to return in 2021, it’s very much up in the air whether he will pitch for the Pirates again. The club does have Archer’s rights for ’21 by way of an option worth $11MM, but it could choose to buy him out instead for a relatively paltry $250K. In light of the surgery – not to mention the money the low-budget Pirates would save (which could be all the more important for them in these uncertain economic times) and Archer’s uninspiring production in their uniform – it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Bucs cut ties with him in a few months.

It’s well known by now to everyone who closely follows the majors, but here’s yet another reminder: Archer joined Pittsburgh in a 2018 trade with the Rays that looked like one of the worst in Pirates history even before Wednesday’s developments. The Pirates and then-general manager Neal Huntington thought they were acquiring a front-end, reasonably priced starter in Archer, who was then 29 and someone who had recorded a 3.69 ERA/3.48 FIP with more than a strikeout per inning in 1,063 frames as a Ray. Since Archer got to Pittsburgh, though, his run prevention has gone in the tank. While he has struck out almost 11 batters per nine, he has also logged a less-than-stellar 4.92 ERA/4.71 FIP over 172 innings as a Pirate.

The Rays, for their part, are no doubt pleased with their end of the trade. They came away with outfielder Austin Meadows and righty Tyler Glasnow, who were promising prospects as Pirates and who have since proven their worth in the majors. The 25-year-old Meadows was a 4.0-fWAR player with 33 home runs a season ago. Glasnow missed a substantial amount of time with injuries in 2019, but the towering 26-year-old was a force during the 60 2/3 innings he did accrue, as he owned hitters with a 1.78 ERA/2.26 FIP, 11.27 K/9 against 2.08 BB/9, and a 50.4 percent groundball rate.

Now more than ever before, it appears the Pirates are going to rue making this deal. So, perhaps they’ll regard it as a sunk cost and decline Archer’s option when the time comes, especially considering new GM Ben Cherington has no connection to the trade that brought the hurler to the Steel City. As you’d expect, though, Cherington suggested Wednesday he hasn’t closed the door on retaining Archer.

“We won’t have games to evaluate, but there will be other information that we have at that time that we don’t have now,” Cherington told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We want to take all the time we possibly can until we have no time remaining, and then make the best decision we can at that time.”

Cherington would probably like to at least get something for Archer in a trade, but that may be impossible to ask now that he’s coming off TOS surgery. Regardless, do you think Archer is done as a Pirate?

(Poll link for app users)

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