The Twins have stayed active, signing Chris Archer to a one year deal. The move follows a flurry of moves that many in the baseball world did not see coming. This first move was trading Mitch Garver for SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa and a pitching prospect. This was followed up by sending Kiner-Falefa, as well as 3B Josh Donaldson and C Ben Rortvedt to the Yankees not even 24 hours after for IF Gio Urshella and C Gary Sanchez.
The Twins then acquired SP Sonny Gray from the Reds, to bolster a poor rotation, for last years first round pick. The biggest move of all was signing the best player on the market in SS Carlos Correa. However, the Twins are not done yet.
The Twins agreed to a one year, $3.5M dollar deal with the two-time All-Star Wednesday evening. The deal could pay Chris Archer up to $6M dollars if he is able to reach contract incentives. The deal also includes a mutual option worth $10M dollars for the 2023 season. Archer pitched in the All-Star Game in 2015 and 2017 as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. However, he has fallen off as a dominant arm since then. He put up poor numbers with the Pirates, and later re-signed with Tampa in 2021, but threw only 19.1 innings due to injury.
Chris Archer, 33, relies heavily on a four seam fastball, a wipeout slider, and an average changeup. His fastball sits at 92 MPH in an age where pitchers are throwing harder than ever. In his limited work last season, the changeup was better than it ever was before, generating a whiff rate of 31.8%. However, his best pitch is a slider that generated 39.4% whiffs in 2021, and 42.2% in 2020. It is not a shock that the Twins’ targeted a pitcher who relies heavily on a good slider, as they throw the pitch as much as anyone in baseball.
It also isn’t surprising that the Twins are active on the pitching market. A small market team like Minnesota doesn’t have players like Carlos Correa fall into their lap very often. The Twins are coming off of a miserable 2021 season, where they won only 73 games after being back-to-back AL Central champions. Archer should slot into the backend of the rotation, and much like Dylan Bundy, is a prime bounce-back candidate. If Archer can return to his all-star form, he will have his option picked up by Minnesota, and if things don’t work out, it’s a low risk move for the Twins.
