Could Chris Archer Be A Yankee By The End Of April?

With the pitching staff running thin after injuries, the Yankees could use this right-hander from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

A month ago, the Yankees arguably had the best rotation in the MLB. Leading the charge was 2nd place Cy Young finisher and former Pirate, Gerrit Cole with a supporting cast of Luis Severino, James Paxton, and Masahiro Tanaka, and J.A. Happ. However, now that we’re finishing up the first week of Spring Training, the Yankees are short on pitching.

Luis Severino will sit out all of 2020 as he will need to undergo the dreaded Tommy John surgery. James Paxton will miss all of April and part of May because of back surgery. This leaves Tanaka moving to the #2 spot of the rotation with Happ going to the #3 spot and a handful of different options fighting for the final 2 rotation spots. Jordan Montgomery, who is fairly fresh off of his own Tommy John surgery and seems to have a leg-up on the other competition. Jonathan Loaisigia, Michael King, and top prospect Deivi Garcia will duke it out in Spring Training for the last spot.

This leaves the Yanks’ pitching staff looking much thinner than it did a couple of weeks ago. The free-agent market doesn’t hold many great answers, but the Pirates could have a potential answer to the Yankees pitching needs in the form of Chris Archer.

Archer didn’t do well last season. There’s no way around that. His ERA skyrocketed to 5.19, while he posted the highest BB/9 (4.1), and HR/9 of his career (1.9). Although he still carried a strong strikeout rate, having 10.8 per 9, Archer’s season was a complete disaster. He also had some on-field antics that probably don’t make him super attractive either. Don’t forget he only pitched in an injury limited 119.2 innings.

So why would the Yankees want someone who struggled with the longball, when their home park is known to be extremely hitter-friendly? Well, it wasn’t that long ago Archer was a solid pitcher. Between 2016 and 2018, the right-hander put up a 4.12 ERA, 3.64 FIP, and 1.284 WHIP. This made him a slightly above league average pitcher. He also pitched 200+ innings in 2 of the 3 seasons, making him extremely durable.

Plus, Yankee Stadium has never been an issue for Arch. In his career, he has kept Yankee batters to a .219/.278/.372 line in their own ballpark. That’s good for a 3.44 ERA, 3.74 FIP, and 1.041 WHIP in New York.

Now the Pirates aren’t going to get anything close to what they had to give up for Archer, but the Yankees still have a couple of interesting pieces. The Yanks and Bucs could work out a change-of-scenery trade, as they have outfielder Clint Frazier blocked at every outfield spot and designated hitter. Fraizer is entering his age-25 season and has been blocked at the major league level by the Yankees depth. Last season, the former top prospect hit for a solid .267/.311/.489 line with a dozen long balls, and 111 OPS+.

While his bat might draw attention, Fraizer’s fielding was awful last year. He had -8 DRS, -5.2 UZR, and -1.0 dWAR in just 395.1 innings in the outfield corners. However, he was much better in left field with 1.2 UZR than right field (-6.4 UZR). Plus he previously graded out as a solid outfield defender when he was a prospect. Now with Starling Marte gone, the Pirates could spell Bryan Reynolds in centerfield with Frazier taking over in left.

If Archer hits the ground running, the Pirates and Yankees could get into preliminary trade talks. The Yankees have a need, and spare piece while the Pirates could try to get something out of Archer. Granted, the Yankees hold Frazier in high regard, but they might just get desperate enough. They already handed out the largest contract to a pitcher in baseball history, and Fraizer has nowhere for even semi-regular playing time on the Yankee’s current roster. Even if an injury occurs to Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Tauchman’s breakout 2019 pushed Frazier back even further in the depth chart. They can’t keep Frazier held back for much longer, and that’s why I think this trade would work.