Disastrous Chris Archer trade comes full circle for Pirates as RHP returns to Tampa Bay
A trade that proved to be a colossal bust for the Pittsburgh Pirates has come full circle as an epic disaster, as pitcher Chris Archer chose Tuesday to return to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Archer, 32, agreed to terms on a one-year, $6.5 million contract with the Rays pending a physical, according to an ESPN report.
Right-hander Chris Archer and the Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a one-year, $6.5 million deal, pending physical, sources tell ESPN.
Archer, 32, returns to the organization where he debuted and found his greatest success.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 2, 2021
The Pirates acquired Archer, a two-time All-Star right-hander who was 54-68 with a 3.69 ERA in seven seasons in Tampa, from the Rays in July 2018 in exchange for outfielder Austin Meadows and pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz.
Now, the Rays have all four.
The trade was catastrophic for the Pirates as Archer went 1-2 with a 6.45 ERA that August and they fell out of playoff contention. He was 6-12 with a 4.92 ERA in 33 starts over two seasons. He underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in June and opted out of the 2020 season. Archer exited through the back door in October, when the Pirates declined their $11 million club option on the final year of his contract and paid a $250,000 buyout instead.
The Pirates fired president Frank Coonelly, general manager Neal Huntington and manager Clint Hurdle following a last-place finish in the NL Central in 2019 and have gone into full rebuild mode by trading All-Stars Starling Marte and Josh Bell and pitchers Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon over the past 13 months.
The Rays, by contrast, got a pair of rising stars in Glasnow and Meadows and a top prospect in Baz, a 2017 first-round pick, and reached the World Series last fall before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Glasnow is 12-7 with a 3.32 ERA in 34 starts, including a 5-1 record with a 4.08 ERA last summer.
Meadows was an All-Star in 2019, when he batted .291 with 29 doubles, seven triples, 33 home runs and 89 RBIs. Baz is ranked their No. 5 prospect by Baseball America and No. 6 by MLB Pipeline.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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