Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, the Pirates were being hounded for trading away Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole.
Now, they’re 3.5 games back of a wild card with Chris Archer heading to Steel City to don the gold and black.
Ahoy, mateys! Thar she blows, take a gander at the grades of the booty! (I’m sorry.)
MORE: MLB trade deadline — See who went where with comprehensive trade tracker
Pittsburgh Pirates: A-
Batten down the hatches! The Pirates’ fire sale is no more after sailing into the trade deadline with a clear plan.
It wasn’t long ago when the fire sale was on, as Pittsburgh traded Cole and McCutchen for what many considered to be a bad return. Now, they get their Robin to Jameson Taillon’s Batman. The Steel City got the hero it deserves in Archer, even though he may not be the one they need right now.
Archer is many, many things:
- He’s a workhorse: He’s pitched 200 innings each of the past three years and has made 30-plus starts each of the past four years.
- He’s cost-effective: Archer is under team control through 2021. He has an $11 million team option.
- He’s damn good: Make no mistake that Chris Archer is good. Is he an ace? We’ll see whether the whole “change of scenery” theory holds up. He’s finished in the top five of the Cy Young voting once, has nasty stuff, and will probably benefit from being in meaningful baseball.
Whenever you’re getting a sure thing, a top-of-the-rotation type like Archer, it’s going to hurt, and hurt it did: The Pirates parted with former wunderkind Austin Meadows and the up-and-down Tyler Glasnow in the deal. The Pirates have a loaded outfield, so parting with Meadows won’t hurt as much, but it’s still a blow for their major-league depth.
A rotation that now includes Taillon, Joe Musgrove and Archer is a tantalizingly good top three, should they develop and stay healthy. Musgrove and Taillon are both under team control through 2022, while Archer comes off the books following 2021. That’s three good years of contention for the Pirates.
Oh, and not to mention, their rebuilt bullpen features some serious power arms like the deadline-acquired Keone Kela, Kyle Crick and All-Star Felipe Vazquez.
The Bucs have navigated treacherous seas in 2018, but now it’s time to set sail for October. Archer helps them inch toward that goal.
Tampa Bay Rays: A
Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow are Rays of hope, to say the least.
It’s hard to say who won this trade right now, but any time you can net a former first-round pick and a former top pitching prospect, both of whom are major league ready, that’s a big, big coup. Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow are both guys who can play right now for the Rays, and they’re both incredibly talented.
Meadows, a former top prospect in all of baseball, is hitting .292 with a 115 OPS+ in 49 games this season. Injuries have hindered his ascent to the majors, but this year he’s proven he can hang with the big boys. Glasnow has had an up-and-down career, pitching to a 5.79 career ERA.
The Rays feel confident of their staff in 2019 and beyond, with Blake Snell emerging as the star of the rotation, meaning Archer’s presence was no longer necessary. Should Brent Honeywell recover from Tommy John surgery, the Rays will have a solid 1-2 punch in 2019. It remains to be seen whether Glasnow will be moved back into a starting role, but presumably he will be pitching out of the Rays’ bullpen for the rest of 2018.
Hey, he may even start — as an “opener.”
This is a great move for the Rays, albeit a bit surprising, considering they didn’t deal for lower-level guys in the trade and are seemingly focused on keeping their window cracked open. Maybe not for 2018, but 2019 and beyond.
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