Five Best Trade Partners for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chris Archer

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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – MARCH 26: A general view of The Battery Atlanta connected to Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, on March 26, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Major League Baseball has postponed the start of its season indefinitely due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – MARCH 26: A general view of The Battery Atlanta connected to Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, on March 26, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Major League Baseball has postponed the start of its season indefinitely due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves’ starting rotation is one that could be very good, or very bad. Mike Foltynewicz could have a very good bounce back season, and former top prospects like Sean Newcomb and Kyle Wright are in the running for the fifth rotation spot.

The team signed former Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez to a minor league deal, and he was off to a great start in Spring Training before it was shut down, but he is far from a sure thing. King Felix hasn’t posted an ERA below 4 since 2016, nor has had a DRA under 5 since 2015. They also signed veteran lefty Cole Hamels, but given his injury that would have made him miss the first few weeks of the season had it started as planned, and his sub-par peripherals like a 4.09 FIP and 4.87 DRA, and struggles in the second half of 2019 leave the Braves with some uncertainty.

If Archer gets off to a good start, and if both Hernandez and Hamels struggle, or the young prospects also struggle to hold their own, then the Braves could turn to the Pirates. The Braves still have a top-tier farm system. Even their lowest ranked prospect, that being catcher Logan Brown, is still an intriguing piece. However, the Pirates could probably ask for one of the team’s top 20 prospects, which isn’t unreasonable if Archer is doing well.