Five Best Trade Partners for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chris Archer

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DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 1: Chris Archer #24 of the Pittsburgh Pirates watches the game from the bench during a game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on September 1, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 1: Chris Archer #24 of the Pittsburgh Pirates watches the game from the bench during a game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on September 1, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

One of the trade pieces the Pittsburgh Pirates currently has is starting pitcher Chris Archer. If he gets off to a hot start to the 2020 season, these teams could be checking in the former All-Star.

Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed starting pitcher Chris Archer is considered a bounce back candidate by many, and for a good reason. Although he has not been an ace level performer for a few years, 2019 was uncharacteristically poor for the former multiple time American League All-Star. In 119.2 innings, Archer had put up the worst ERA (5.19), FIP (5.02), DRA (4.42), SIERA (4.38) and WHIP (1.41) of his career. He also gave up 25 home runs, and walked 4.1 batters per 9 innings.

However, he was a fairly solid pitcher between 2016 and 2018. In these three seasons, Archer pitched to the tune of a 4.12 ERA, 3.64 FIP, and 1.28 WHIP. He had also posted a 3.54 SIERA, which was 14th best in the MLB across these three seasons. His 3.66 K/BB ratio was also one of the best in the MLB in these three years, ranking 23rd.

Before 2019, Archer was an extremely durable starter. From his 2014 breakout through 2018, he failed to reach 30 starts in a season just once, and regularly pitched around 200 innings a year. His 10 fWAR was tied with Zack Greinke for the 18th highest in the MLB during this three season stretch. In a weird way, Archer has kind of become underrated because of the amount of fans who consider him overrated.

If Archer gets off to a solid start to the season, his value will go way up, and by the All-Star break or even earlier, teams in need of pitching will definitely call the Pittsburgh Pirates about Archer. So, who are the best trade partners in the event of the Pirates trading the starting pitcher?