It wasn't until three minutes before the non-waiver deadline Tuesday afternoon that Neal Huntington thought he could realistically trade for his top target. After exhaustive negotiations, Huntington then closed the deal, as the Pirates acquired ace pitcher Chris Archer from the Rays in exchange for Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow and a player to be named later.
Archer, a 29-year-old right-hander, is a two-time All-Star and has a 1.38 WHIP with 102 strikeouts in 96 innings this season. He's owed $27 million over the next three seasons, including two club options, and just $7.6 million in 2019. Huntington had balked at trading top prospects in the past, yet the depth of the Pirates' system, bolstered by the offseason trades of Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen, made even two former top prospects expendable.
"We were, as we’ve been every year, in on a number of things, trying to figure out what’s real, what has a chance to happen, where you want to have it happen and how you make it happen, but Chris was our target," Huntington said.
And he paid a high price for that target.
Meadows, 23, batted .409 with a 1.221 OPS in 13 games following his major league debut May 18, earning National League Rookie of the Month honors. It appeared he finally reached the limitless potential he showed before and after the Pirates drafted him ninth overall in 2013.
He was relegated to the bench only a month later. Meadows batted just .252 with a .641 OPS in 35 games from June 1 to July 17 before he was sent back to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Black & yellow, black & yellow!!!! @Pirates
— Chris Archer (@ChrisArcher22) July 31, 2018
Meadows was recalled again when Corey Dickerson was placed on the disabled list Saturday, but he went 0 for 3 in his final game with the Pirates Sunday afternoon. Meadows, ranked by Baseball America as the sixth-best prospect in the sport prior to last year, missed significant time the past two seasons because of hamstring and core injuries. He'll now report to Triple-A Durham, although he's expected to be in Tampa in the near future.
Glasnow, still only 24 years old, has carved out a niche in the Pirates' bullpen this season. His 72 strikeouts ranked third among National League relievers and opponents have batted just .226 against him, but he's averaged 5.5 walks per nine innings, resulting in a 1.44 WHIP in 56 innings. He'll join either the Rays' bullpen or rotation; Tampa Bay has announced that he'll start Wednesday.
"Tough to see guys go; it’s going to be different without Glasnow," Josh Bell said. "But definitely excited to get an All-Star in Chris, and see what he can bring to the clubhouse."
It's the first time in Huntington's tenure the Pirates have traded two significant prospects. In addition to Meadows and Glasnow, Huntington called the third piece, to be named later, a "player of significance." He also traded lefty starter Taylor Hearn and another player to be named later to the Rangers early Tuesday morning for closer Keone Kela, who is under contract through 2020.
"It ultimately comes back to our belief in this core," Huntington said. "This group of young players. The players we have on the horizon and what a player the caliber of Chris Archer and Keone Kela can mean, not only to this year's team but in Chris' case the next three teams and in Keone's case the next two teams."
While the Pirates parted with Cole when he was only 26 years old and under contract for two more seasons, they acquired an additional starting pitcher, Joe Musgrove, as well as reliever Michael Feliz, third baseman Colin Moran and outfielder Jason Martin.
They also acquired reliever Kyle Crick and outfielder Bryan Reynolds in the Andrew McCutchen deal. That additional prospect depth made Huntington motivated to add controllable arms who can make an immediate impact, rather than waiting for Meadows and Glasnow to fulfill their potential.
"Today, we paid a heavy cost in terms of prospects, but we thought that the cost was appropriate because we understand that in order to bring in a player of the caliber of Chris Archer, you’re going to have to pay a heavy cost," Frank Coonelly, the Pirates' president, said. "We thought that the organization was working from a position of strength in terms of the depth of our system, and we could pay that cost [to] bring in a player that can immediately impact us this year and then over the next several years.”
Huntington added: "We felt like because of our depth we were able to make two significant moves, not just the one significant move, and retain players we believe can help us next year, and into the future, continue to be a winning team."
Although Meadows was their top prospect at the start of the season, the Pirates did not part with their current top prospect, starting pitcher Mitch Keller, or any of their other top-six prospects. Hearn, acquired along with Felipe Vazquez in the Mark Melancon trade two years ago, was ranked seventh in the organization.
Archer is joining a rotation that will also include Musgrove, Jameson Taillon, Ivan Nova and Trevor Williams. Nick Kingham will likely be sent to Triple-A, where he'll join a rotation that also includes Keller and Clay Holmes. The Pirates' rotation has a 2.75 ERA over its past 16 games.
Archer, who's pitched at least 200 innings with 200 strikeouts for three consecutive seasons, has a 4.31 ERA in 17 starts; however, his 3.62 xFIP — field independent pitching, which accounts for the ballpark and league — and .343 batting average on balls in play suggest he's pitched much better than numbers would indicate.
Archer ranks fifth in the majors in strikeouts over the past four seasons and can be kept for three more years. He was scheduled to start for the Rays Wednesday, but it's unclear when he'll report to Pittsburgh or pitch for the first time. Over the last five years, Archer ranks 10th among all pitchers with 905 innings. In that same time, only Max Scherzer (153) had made more starts than Archer.
The whiff rate on his fastball and slider have both dropped from last season, and his velocity is down a tick from last season, but the Pirates' analytics department led Huntington to think they still acquired a starting pitcher worth the hefty price tag.
"We understand the surface numbers aren't typical Chris Archer surface numbers," Huntington said. "We are believers in what our scouts have seen and the quality of the pitches, the intelligence, the athlete. The competitor. How he goes about it. We believe the underlying numbers our analytics group has continued to pound us on, that we've had a lot of success with that type of model in the past. Obviously a much bigger bet with Chris Archer than it's been on any number of pitchers we've had success with in the past, but we believe the indicators are there that Chris Archer is still an upper-echelon top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher."
