4. Chris Archer, Pittsburgh Pirates
Once upon a time, Archer looked like one of the top young pitchers in baseball. He struggled to put it all together at times with the Tampa Bay Rays, but a fifth place finish in the Cy Young Award voting in 2015, a second All-Star selection in 2017 and four consecutive seasons of more than 30 starts with over 194 innings from 2014-2017 (more than 200 innings each season from 2015-2017) showed what he is capable of.
Archer was traded to the Pirates in 2018, and didn’t pitch especially well for them (4.30 ERA over 10 starts) or as a whole that season (4.31 over 27 starts -148.1 innings). Then his 2019 was thrown off by injuries, including a shoulder issue that led to him being shut down in mid-September, as he posted a 5.19 ERA over 23 starts (119.2 innings).
Archer’s K/9 rate was still strong last year (10.8), as he also struggled with control (a career-worst 4.1 BB/9). His average fastball velocity inched downward last year (94.2 MPH), but the shoulder issue can be considered a huge factor in that as well as his command issues. In three full August starts before his shoulder issue came, Archer was pretty good (3.18 ERA, 25:4 K/BB ratio over 17 innings).
Archer would be a reclamation project for any team that acquires him, with perhaps some easy advice to at least throw his two-seam fastball less often. He’ll cost $9 million for 2020, with an $11 million option ($250,000 buyout) for 2021, so the risk is fairly minimal. As is the case with Price, Archer would also reunite with Maddon in an Angels’ uniform.