Pirates spirit away Archer on deadline
OK, who locked Pirates general manager Neal Huntington and owner Bob Nutting into a steel cage Tuesday, stole their cellphones, impersonated their voices and was responsible for Pittsburgh’s zany antics on trade deadline day?
Come on, these guys on trade deadline are traditionally as conservative as Rush Limbaugh, never letting a playoff race stop them from staying pat or even trading away players, focusing solely on the future.
Now, at a time when they’re in third place, barely over .500 (55-52) and on the fringe of the wild-card race (3½ games back), they’ve suddenly become more aggressive than freshman kids at their first college keg party.
The Pirates stunned the baseball in-
dustry by swooping in and landing Rays veteran starter Chris Archer, the biggest star traded Tuesday, giving up two prospects, center fielder Austin Meadows, reliever Ty Glasnow and a player to be named.
This comes at a time when Archer’s trade value perhaps is the lowest in four years, going
3-5 with a 4.31 ERA this year and 22-36 with a
4.10 ERA the past three years, when teams hang on to their prospects as if they’re future Hall of Famers.
Yet after watching Archer strike out 13 batters against the Marlins on July 22, the Pirates believe that switching leagues and getting out of the brutal American League East could turn him into an All-Star again.
“Chris Archer has been, and projects to be, an upper echelon major league starting pitcher,” Huntington said, “who we are thrilled to add to our organization to help us win games for the next three-plus years.”
It’s Archer’s body of work, but particularly his team-friendly contract — paying him $6.25 million this year, $7.5 million in 2019, with a $9 million option in 2020 and $11 million option in 2021 — that had the Pirates ripping off their threepiece suit and flossing on the dance floor.
The Pirates showed their hand late Monday when they acquired Rangers closer Keone Kela, who has saved 24 games this season and is under control through 2020.
Still, these are the Pirates, the same team that dumped the face of the franchise, center fielder Andrew McCutchen, and their ace, Gerrit Cole, just six months ago, drawing the ire and a grievance from the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Well, something got into the water in the offices at 115 Federal St., because the Pirates didn’t dump Jordy Mercer. They didn’t trade Josh Harrison and David Freese. They kept the band together, and even added a leader.
Prospects be damned, they wanted to win right now.
Maybe it was their dramatic attendance dropoff, down 368,207 from a year ago, with an average attendance of just 18,139 this year, that was a cold slap of reality their fan base would no longer be satisfied with watching games in America’s most beautiful ballpark.
Maybe it was winning 15 of their past 19 games, including 11 victories in a row, and seeing the excitement in the city?
Well, whatever made them change their tune, it was stunning and rather refreshing.
Sure, maybe Meadows, who once was their finest prospect, will develop into an All-Star outfielder one day. Perhaps Glasnow, who supplanted Meadows as their top prospect before yielding a 7.69 ERA, will become the ace everyone envisioned.
“If you told every GM that you could be guaranteed a World Series, every single one of us would mortgage the future,” Huntington told Pittsburgh reporters.
“But there is no guarantee. There are significant hard times coming after if you push all the chips in and don’t win.”
The Pirates signaled to everyone they are all in and the Rays are back to the future, as the planets for baseball’s pennant stretch were realigned after the non-waiver trade deadline expired.
The biggest news of the day perhaps were the moves that didn’t take place.
The Nationals didn’t trade Bryce Harper, or even bother listening to offers, but watched their division get better with the Braves landing starter Kevin Gausman from the Orioles and the Phillies grabbing catcher Wilson Ramos from the Rays.
The Mets, despite their 44-59 record, not only didn’t move ace Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard, but didn’t trade anyone else either.
The Yankees and Red Sox, who already made their biggest moves before the day, didn’t bother making another one.
Matt Harvey isn’t the Dark Knight of old, but he stayed put, too. The Reds talked extensively to the Braves, Brewers and Cubs about him but never got the offer they wanted. They’ll now put the pitcher through waivers and try to trade him in August.
The Brewers never got the starter they desperately needed but instead got another second baseman, Jonathan Schoop from Baltimore.
The Dodgers went back in time and grabbed second baseman Brian Dozier from the Twins, after trying to acquire him two years ago.
They instead watched the Diamondbacks corner the market on bullpen help as they were reunited with Brad Ziegler, whom they acquired seven years ago on the same day, along with Jake Diekman from the Rangers. They now have added three relievers in five days, grabbing Matt Andriese last week from the Rays.
And the Orioles became the newest and latest enemy of the players union by shaving $35 million from their payroll after the dust settled.
“I hear it’s easier to demolish the entire house and rebuild from the ground up,” Orioles GM Dan Duquette told Baltimore reporters, “than renovating one room at a time.”
For the Pirates, there’s nothing like adding a whole new wing to the house, turning a fixer-upper into a mansion, and having everyone stare at you in disbelief.
Welcome to your neighborhood, Pirates.