Revisiting the Chris Archer Trade: How Tampa Bay Turned into a Contender
May 28, 2019July 31, 2018, the date of Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline and the day the Tampa Bay Rays made the move that turned them into the contender they are today.
Hours before the deadline, second-year general manager Erik Neander sent Rays’ ace pitcher Chris Archer to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for two prospects – outfielder Austin Meadows and pitcher Tyler Glasnow – along with a player to be named later (who ended up being pitcher Shane Baz).
Archer was in the midst of a down year compared to past seasons, posting a 3-5 record with a 4.31 earned-runs average and pitching 96 innings as a member of the Rays, just one year removed from being named to the All-Star Game.
During his time in Tampa Bay, Archer always showed potential of being the No. 1 guy, but was never able to truly establish himself as an elite pitcher. The 30-year-old’s best season came in 2015 when he finished fifth in Cy Young Award voting with a 12-13 record, 3.23 ERA and a career-high 252 strikeouts over 212 innings pitched – the most he’s pitched in an entire season.
Archer started Opening Day for the Rays from 2015-2018 and, despite not having the flashy stats, was the team’s ace through its down years. During his tenure with Tampa Bay, Archer compiled a 54-68 record to go with his 3.69 ERA and 1,146 strikeouts in 1,063 innings pitched. His ERA ranks third all time throughout Tampa Bay’s 21-year history. His 54 wins are fourth all time and he’s only 104 strikeouts behind James Shields for the franchise record.
The trade was viewed as a win for the Pirates, with many wondering why Tampa Bay would choose to give up on its All-Star pitcher who is currently making a team-friendly $7.5 million and has two more years left on a six-year, $25 million contract he signed with the Rays in 2015, coming off his first All-Star Game appearance.
The Return
In exchange for Archer, Tampa Bay acquired the three players previously mentioned: Meadows, Glasnow and Baz, with the first two players once considered to be top prospects.
Both Meadows and Glasnow had trouble adjusting to the major league level in the Steel City, especially the latter. Glasnow had been with the Pirates since the 2016 season, but was never able to get his ERA below four. In 2017, the California native started 13 games, throwing just 62 innings – an average of under five innings pitched per start. The righty pitcher completed the season with an ERA of 7.69, by far the worst of his career. Meadows, on the other hand, made his debut in Pittsburgh the same year he was traded – 2018. The outfielder appeared in just 49 games for the Pirates, batting a respectable .292 average with five home runs and 13 runs batted in.
However, this season has been a breath of fresh air for both players as they have dominated the big leagues nearly one-third of the way through the 2019 season. Entering Tuesday night, Meadows’ 11 home runs sits just six behind the Astros’ George Springer, who’s 17 homers lead the American League. The Georgia native was named AL Player of the Week back on April 14 and has continued to be a problem for opposing pitchers. He’s only appeared in 34 games, but is batting .351 with 30 RBIs and an OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) of 1.105, which leads American League batters with at least 100 at-bats.
As for Glasnow, the pitcher leads the American League in ERA among those to pitch more than 40 innings this season. The righty was having a sensational season – one worthy of quarter-season award recognition – before being placed on the 60-day injured list with a right forearm strain. He’s not expected to return until mid-July. Glasnow had started eight games before going down with an injury, winning six of them and only receiving one losing decision and winning the AL Pitcher of the Month Award for the month of April, going a perfect 5-0 with a 1.75 ERA. The pitcher has turned around his career since the 7.69 ERA he recorded two years ago and has proved that he has the potential to be the perfect No. 2 behind reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell in the future.
The Results
A trade once viewed as questionable for Tampa Bay to make has turned out to be a major win for GM Erik Neander, manager Kevin Cash and senior Vice President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom as the two key pieces the Rays received have blossomed into cornerstone pieces in just under a year’s time since the blockbuster trade was made.
The Rays have never been a team to spend money, as they tend to sit towards the bottom of both league payroll and attendance. The same can be said this year, with Tampa Bay ranking 30th among 30 teams in team payroll at just over $63 million, more than $10 million behind the next team and 29th in attendance, ahead of their east coast-counterparts in Miami.
Despite the league-low payroll and second-last attendance rank, the Rays continue to do what nobody expected them to do: compete. Entering Tuesday night, the Rays sit in second in the AL East with a 32-19 record, just two games behind the New York Yankees – a team that possesses a $210 million payroll, more than triple that of Tampa Bay. The Rays are four-and-a-half games up on the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics, the two teams closest to Tampa Bay in the Wild Card standings.
As important as Meadows and Glasnow have been for Tampa Bay, they aren’t the only ones driving the bus. Reigning Rookie of the Month, second baseman Brandon Lowe is tied with Meadows in home runs and RBIs with 11 and 30, respectively. Starting pitcher Charlie Morton is a perfect 5-0 with a 2.54 ERA, followed up by Yonny Chirinos (6-1) and the aforementioned Snell (3-4), who own a 2.91 and 3.07 ERA, respectively. And then there’s the matter of the “opener,” the strategy that the team began using last year and carried into this season.
The “opener” is using a pitcher, typically a reliever, to get the opening outs of a ball game and then switching to a long reliever or a starting pitcher. Relievers Ryne Stanek and Hunter Wood were two players who employed this strategy last year and have done so again this year, with the pair starting a combined 16 games (14-Stanek, 2-Wood), yet only pitching 39 innings (28.1-Stanek, 10.2-Wood). Stanek has appeared in this role more often than his teammate, starting 14 of the 16 games between the two of them and pitching 28.1 of the 39 combined innings while recording a 3.18 ERA, while Wood’s ERA is roughly half of that at 1.69.
No matter what type of unorthodox strategies the team chooses to use, or the low payroll the team owns, the Tampa Bay Rays are proving the doubters wrong through the first 51 games of the season. There are still 111 games to go before the postseason begins, but with help potentially on the way in the form of infielders Matt Duffy and Joey Wendle, there isn’t a reason why the Tampa Bay Rays can’t continue to compete for a spot in this year’s dance.
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