No. 2018.07.31 · Modern Era
Archer to Pittsburgh
At the 2018 deadline Pittsburgh sent Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and Shane Baz to Tampa Bay for Chris Archer. Archer's earned-run average in Pittsburgh stayed over 5. Meadows and Glasnow became the players the prospects had been advertised as.
Chris Archer with the Pirates, August 2018, right after the trade. Not a photo of the trade.
Ken Lund on Flickr; 佾珜 (Crop) / CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
July 31, 2018. The Pirates traded Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and a player to be named later to the Rays for Chris Archer. The player named later was Shane Baz. Archer was the established starter, a former All-Star, and the pitcher a club adds when it thinks the race is still open.
His earned-run average in Pittsburgh stayed above 5. He missed 2020 after thoracic-outlet surgery, and the club declined his option. Meadows was an All-Star in 2019. Glasnow became the Rays' ace. Baz was still a prospect on the day of the deal. He was also the third name.
The trade is the deadline version of an old entry: a pitcher whose present was bought with someone else's future, and a present that did not arrive. Archer's injury is part of the record. It is not the whole of why the return outgrew him.
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