Analyzing One of The Worst Trades In Baseball History: Adam's Baseball Breakdowns

Welcome to the first article of my brand new series: Adam's Baseball Breakdowns or Baseball Breakdowns for short. For this first post, it was so tough to decide what to write on, because I could have gone in so many different directions. After thinking and thinking and thinking some more, I finally decided to write on one of the worst trades in recent memory. As always, I will do my best to be as detailed as I can. More importantly though, I will try to make the article easy to understand so that everyone can follow along. Let's roll!

Believe it or not, this trade happened only a few years ago, at the 2018 trade deadline. The title of the article could have easily been: Analyzing the Worst Trade Ever In Baseball History, but I decided against it, as I am sure there have been a few trades worse than this. Sure, the Dodgers trading Yordan Alvarez to the Astros in exchange for Josh Fields in 2016 is high on the list, but I consider this one to be a bit worse.

The Trade:

Pittsburgh Gave Up: Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and Shane Baz

Tampa Bay Gave Up: Chris Archer

The Pirates and Rays agreed to a deal during the aforementioned 2018 deadline, that sent Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and Pittsburgh's 2017 first round pick, Shane Baz to Tampa Bay for starting pitcher and two-time All-Star, Chris Archer. What was to follow was something that some, including myself, never expected, as this was the big breakthrough that I believe jump started the Rays recent run of success.

Chris Archer was having a solid career in the early to mid 2010's, as he was considered a household name at the time. With that being said, he put up solid numbers from 2013-2015, as his ERA never rose above 3.33 in those three seasons. His 2015 season was arguably his best, as Archer put up a 10.7 SO9 and a 1.14 WHIP, all while winning 12 games (although losing 13), coming in fifth in the AL Cy Young voting, and being named an All-Star. Archer's 2017 campaign deserves some attention as well, as he was named an All-Star for the second time in three seasons, had a 11.1 SO9, but his ERA sat at a below average, 4.07. He never was amazing, but could get the job done when called upon. Even in his prime years, Archer only had one season where he had a winning record, as he ended up with a 9-7 record in 2013.

Once Archer was dealt to Pittsburgh, the wheels fell off rather quickly. He finished the 2018 campaign with a 4.30 ERA for just Pittsburgh alone, as he followed it up with an even worse 5.19 ERA in his first full season with the Pirates in 2019. As Archer progressively got worse, his dreads seemed to grow in length, as he sported a brand new hair style. For those who remember him well, his do-rags he wears is a classic essential to his attire. The train wreck does not stop there though, as he missed the entirety of the 2020 season due to injury. As a result, he pitched only 19.1 innings this past year with a 4.66 ERA and a 1-1 record.

Tyler Glasnow was brand new to the Major League landscape in 2018, as he only compiled 141.1 IP in his three seasons for Pittsburgh before being traded to Tampa Bay. His build alone, 6-8, 225lb should have told the Pirates front office, managers, and whoever else runs the organization, that he had ace potential. As a result, it seemed they gave him little time to prove himself in a Pittsburgh uniform. Although Glasnow had a 5.79 ERA over that span, everybody knows that pitching prospects usually take a bit longer to develop than hitting prospects. The Pirates obviously did not show or have enough patience with Glasnow or Baz for that matter as it cost them in the end.

The 2019 season was Glasnow's breakout year, as he had a 1.78 ERA. Man, the Pirates had to be kicking themselves, as they had their future ace slip away. Even I made a similar mistake, as I took Joey Lucchesi instead of Glasnow in the later rounds of my fantasy draft that year. Glasnow's 2019 season was cut short by injury though, as he managed only 60.2 innings. Over his injury shortened year, he was 6-1, with an amazing 0.89 WHIP, and could have probably been in the Cy Young race all year if he continued to put up strong numbers.

Unfortunately during the shortened 2020 season, the hard throwing righty had an off year, as he was only able to put together a 4.08 ERA paired with a rather solid 1.13 WHIP, although his 5-1 record was his only real bright spot on his stat line.

2021 was much similar to his 2019 campaign, as he excelled with a 2.66 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP, but was once again shut down, as he had Tommy John Surgery this past August, ending his season.

One thing that I seem to always notice about Glasnow, is that he will often readjust his hat after a strikeout or while walking back to the dugout after an inning. Nobody probably notices this, nor do they probably even care, but I thought I would add it in, as I love spotting even the smallest details of what players tend to do.

Austin Meadows was the next player involved in the deal, as he only played 49 games for the Pirates in 2018. A small sample size sure, but he was super productive in those few games. A .292/.327/.468 slash line will play for a then 23 year old outfielder, who was still developing.

Like Glasnow, Meadows had a breakout 2019 and also found his power stroke in the process. Belting 33 long balls combined with a .291 average and finishing 14th in AL MVP voting, the Rays had to have been happy with what they had gotten in return for Archer. An OPS of .922 and a SLG of .558, topped off an All-Star season for Meadows, as both stats were in the top 10 percent of the league in 2019.

In the two seasons since, Meadows had an off 2020, as it seemed the majority of the league did, as his overall numbers dipped significantly. Fast forward to this past year, Meadows registered 106 RBI, with 27 home runs, as his average was the only thing that was to be desired, as it sat at a pedestrian .234.

Shane Baz was the final piece that the Pirates sent to Tampa Bay in this nightmare of a deal. Baz, as it is pronounced Boz according to Baseball Reference, really came on this season, as he showed glimpses of what was to come during the 2019 Minor League season. Baz, in 2019, compiled a 2.99 ERA in A ball, combined with a .213 BAA, and a 1.23 WHIP.

This season Baz decided to turn it up a few notches, as he virtually tore the roof off the house. A one-man wrecking crew, Baz seemingly shot up through the Minor League ranks at such a rapid pace.

Firing 32.2 innings for the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits, he managed to put up a 2.48 ERA, alongside a sparkling 0.73 WHIP, with an even better .190 BAA. Adding a 49:2 strikeout to walk ratio does not hurt either, as that statistic is straight filth.

Once Baz proved himself at the Double-A level, he was somehow even better at Triple-A with the Durham Bulls. The young righty had a bit of an increase in innings, as he pitched 46 masterful ones in the process. Going 3-0 in his 10 games started combined with a 1.76 ERA and 0.85 WHIP, forced Kevin Cash and the rest of the Rays front office to call Baz up to the Show.

Baz made three starts for the Rays in the regular season, as he had a 2.03 ERA in only 13.1 innings pitched, equivalent to three starts. Even though he struggled against the Red Sox in the ALDS, Baz showed that he plans on staying in the Rays rotation for the long term.

The Aftermath:

To sum it up, the picture that you see above is the only highlight that Chris Archer has managed to put together during his time in Pittsburgh thus far.

During the 2019 season, Archer gave up a home run to Derek Dietrich, who then decided to bat flip and admire his bomb as the baseball splashed into the Allegany River. During his next at-bat, Archer threw behind Dietrich. As you would imagine, this resulted in both teams running out onto the field, which led to even more arguing, as well as pushing and shoving, as these players were acting like immature men who happen to get paid millions of dollars to play baseball for a living. As usual, Yasiel Puig was in the middle of it, running his mouth, and trying to act all tough. After typing the aforementioned nonsense, I decided to add the photo for entertainment purposes to make this paragraph somewhat useful.

Meanwhile, the Rays are living life on the high road, as they have a young ace, while the other young arm, Baz, continues to improve his stock. With that being said, I can already see some similarities between that of Glasnow and the aforementioned Baz.

If Glasnow could stay healthy for a whole 162 game season, I would be interested to see what types of numbers that he would be able to put up and if he could stay in the Cy Young race for a whole year. He has all the talent in the world, as he was in the 97th percentile when it came to K rate, 98th percentile in Whiff Rate, and the 94th percentile when it came to Fastball Velocity over this past year.

Austin Meadows is an above average outfielder who seems to have his power numbers show up now on a year to year basis, as he provides offensive stability in the Tampa Bay lineup.

The Pirates however, have to cringe every time this trade comes up, as this turned out to be awful for everyone involved in Pittsburgh's organization. One would wonder though if they would have been a bit more patient, what could have been.

Currently, they are in a long rebuilding process, as they drafted Henry Davis, a catcher out of Louisville with the first overall selection in this year's draft. Hopefully Pittsburgh will be able to turn it around here in several years, as they have a couple of top prospects in their system. Nick Gonzales, O'Neil Cruz, and Quinn Priester are just a few names who will look to make an impact at the Major League level sooner rather than later.

Final Thoughts: I hope you all have enjoyed reading my first Baseball Breakdown article, as it will be interesting to see how this overall series plays out. Be on the lookout for my Championship Series preview tomorrow before the 8:07 PM EDT first pitch.

See you at the Ballpark!!!

Adam

.