Twins add former Rays, Pirates pitcher Chris Archer to rotation

FORT MYERS, FLA. — The Twins hoped to fill the hole in their starting rotation with someone whose best days are still ahead. But with Opening Day rapidly approaching, they settled for a veteran trying to recapture those once-great days.

Chris Archer, an All-Star righthander as recently as five years ago with the Rays, agreed Monday to a one-year contract that guarantees him $3.5 million, a source familiar with the transaction confirmed.

Archer was once a workhorse for Tampa Bay, pitching more than 190 innings in four consecutive seasons from 2014 to '17, but his career has largely been derailed by injuries in the last few seasons.

He missed all of 2020's short season after undergoing surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome in his shoulder, suffered a forearm strain that kept him out for four months last year, and then missed the final three weeks because of a hip injury. He has pitched only 139 major-league innings in the last three years.

But the Twins, unable to connect on a trade for a younger, more promising starting pitcher, decided they could wait no longer to supplement their starting rotation, which includes only Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Dylan Bundy.

Now the Twins must help Archer get his arm into game shape quickly, with Opening Day looming April 7.

If Archer is effective and healthy, he can greatly supplement his $2.75 base salary, with as much as an additional $6 million available in bonuses, according to ESPN. And a mutual option for 2023 would pay Archer, a nine-year veteran who spent part of 2018 and all of 2019 with the Pirates, a $10 million salary, or a $750,000 buyout if not exercised.

Archer's best seasons were his first three full ones, 2013-15, when he posted an ERA of 3.33 or below each season. He finished fifth in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2015, and struck out more than 200 hitters in each season from 2015 to '17. But wildness has been a career-long battle, too, with a career walk average of 3.7 per nine innings.

The 6-2 native of North Carolina has a career 61-81 record — he was 9-19 for Tampa Bay in 2016 — but led the AL in starts during his All-Star seasons of 2015 and 2017.

Archer was drafted by Cleveland in the fifth round in 2006 and signed, but was traded to the Cubs at the end of the 2008 season while he was still in Class A. He was the Cubs' minor league pitcher of the year in 2010 before they sent him to the Rays in a deal where Chicago landed former Twins pitcher Matt Garza. Archer made his big-league debut in 2012.

At the 2018 trade deadline, the Rays dealt Archer to Pittsburgh in a lopsided deal that landed Tampa Bay pitcher Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Austin Meadows. Archer was 3-9 with a 5.19 ERA for the Pirates in 2019, when he made $7.5 million.

After sitting out 2020, he signed a $6.5 million deal to return to the Rays, but he pitched in only six games last season.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Archer, the Twins assigned lefthander Lewis Thorpe outright to Class AAA St. Paul. Thorpe, who is out of options, was placed on waivers last week and went unclaimed.