Pirates acquire Chris Archer from Rays for Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow
Pirates players react to trades.
Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison and pitcher Joe Musgrove talk about the trades for pitchers
The trades that brought pitchers Chris Archer and Keone Kela to the Pirates on Tuesday demonstrate how far this team has evolved.
Less than three months ago, fans couldn’t contain their enthusiasm for rookie outfielder Austin Meadows, who was hitting .455 in his first nine days in the majors. Fans considered it managerial negligence when he wasn’t in the starting lineup.
Now, with a batting average that fell 163 points to .292, he’s a trade chip, shipped to the Tampa Bay Rays, along with underachieving pitcher Tyler Glasnow and what general manager Neal Huntington called a “significant” player to be named.
The return is the most difficult commodity to obtain in the majors: a reliable starting pitcher who is signed through 2019 at $7.6 million with team options for the next two years for $9 million and $11 million. Archer, 29, looks to be an immediate upgrade to a starting rotation that needed help if the Pirates were hoping to remain in contention for a playoff berth.
He gives the team another veteran presence in a young starting rotation that has suffered ups and downs this season. He has recorded ho-hum numbers (3-5 record and 4.31 ERA), but he has struck out 102 in 96 innings for a strikeout/per nine inning rate of 9.6 that will please manager Clint Hurdle.
“It’s the easiest out to record,” he said.
Archer also brings a wealth of experience to the rotation, having been named to the AL All-Star team twice (2015 and ’17) and ranking 10th in the majors in innings pitched (905) over the past five seasons. In that time, only Max Scherzer has more starts (153-150), and Archer ranks fourth in strikeouts (1,009) behind Scherzer (1,280), Chris Sale (1,230) and Corey Kluber (1,145).
What makes the trade stand out among others consummated by Huntington is neither Archer nor Kela are rentals. The Pirates have Kela under control for two seasons beyond this one.
“We were optimistic about what this season could be but felt even more optimistic about what future seasons could be. That’s why these moves made sense,” Huntington said “Even though we gave up significant player value/prospect value out the door, we feel we’ve acquired two really strong players that are going to help us win games this year and beyond.”
The Pirates added $2.945 million in salary between Archer and Kela, minus the pro-rated portions of the money owed to Meadows and Glasnow. That totals about a third of their combined $1.015 million.
“We believe in this team,” team president Frank Coonelly said. “We believe in the core that is here, the young core that will be here for several years as we’re moving forward and the wave that’s right behind them that we believe in.”
Which brings up another point: The Pirates felt comfortable trading Meadows, their 2013 first-round draft choice, because of the organization’s outfield depth.
Trading Andrew McCutchen brought groans from fans but also outfielder Bryan Reynolds from the San Francisco Giants. Reynolds is hitting .276 in Double-A Altoona.
The return for trading Gerrit Cole included four players, and one of them is outfielder Jason Martin, who hit .325 in Altoona and is batting at .287 in Triple-A Indianapolis. There’s also Jordan Luplow, who will man left field until Corey Dickerson’s hamstring heals, and International League All-Star Chris Bostick, who is hitting .297 with 25 doubles, four homers and 34 RBIs in 81 games.
“Every time you feel like you have depth, you don’t,” Huntington said. “So you need to be aware of that. But we do need to be aware that we have opportunities to continue to have a really productive outfield not only next year but into the future given some of the names coming behind as well as the guys playing at a high level now.”
In the end, the temptation to take a shot at the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs and, at least, a wild-card berth, was hard to resist.
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.