Chicago Cubs Rumors: Team going to make a run at Tampa Bay Rays starter Chris Archer?

Recent Chicago Cubs rumors put the team as an obvious landing spot for Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Chris Archer.

Last season, the Chicago Cubs had far and away the best starting pitching in baseball. Led by Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey, the Cubs’ starting pitchers posted a 2.96 ERA for the 2016 regular season. That was not only the best mark in Major League Baseball, the next closest team was the Washington Nationals with a 3.60 ERA. Simply put, their dominant starting pitching was a major reason for their World Series championship run.

Through the early part of the 2017 season, the Cubs’ starting pitching has not been as dominant. Through 45 games, the Cubs’ starters have posted a 4.27 ERA. Their starters have been respectable but they are far from the dominant bunch from last season.

The core of the rotation is still the same. Lester is a consistent ace as usual and Hendricks has pitched extremely well of late. Arrieta has honestly looked pretty awful but if he can figure out his command, expect him to be his dominant self. Lackey is still a solid fourth starter but he does not look as effective as last season.

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The only major change to the rotation from last year is the Cubs’ fifth starter. Jason Hammel was rock solid for the team at the back-end of the rotation this year but the Cubs let him go in free agency. Brett Anderson started the year as the team’s fifth starter, but he was awful and is now on the disabled list. Eddie Butler has been good, but inconsistent in his short time replacing him.

The ideal target

This Chicago Cubs roster is loaded with a ton of talent. However, they could clearly use another starting pitcher to add to the mix. If Theo Epstein and company look to aggressively add at the trade deadline, the rotation is the logical place to look for an addition. They could certainly look in many different directions for a starter but Chris Archer of the Tampa Bay Rays has always made a ton of sense.

MLB insider Jon Heyman seems to agree. On Thursday, Heyman put together a list of 70 players who could get traded prior to the 2017 MLB trade deadline for FanRag Sports. There are plenty of starting pitchers on Heyman’s list who would make sense for the Chicago Cubs but when writing about Archer, Heyman specifically mentions the Cubs as an obvious fit.

"The Rays have listened before, but it’d take a haul as he’s a bargain ($19 million to go through ’19). Alex Cobb remains the Ray most likely to go, though if Archer hits the block, some see the Cubs, where he was once a minor leaguer, as a good partner, assuming Rays ownership is finally over the Joe Maddon defection now (they were taking awhile to get past that at last check)."

As Heyman mentions, Archer was once a premier pitching prospect in the Cubs organization. Back in 2011, then-Cubs general manager Jim Hendry made an ill-advised move, sending a package of players to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for starting pitcher Matt Garza. The headliner of that deal was Chris Archer who has gone on to have a strong career with the Rays.

Archer became a full-time major league starter in 2013 and has been a consistent part of the Rays’ rotation ever since. From 2013 on, Archer has a career 3.49 ERA and has struck out an impressive 9.4 batters per nine innings. I would not call Archer an elite-level ace pitcher but he would be an incredible number two option in any starting rotation.

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On top of that, Archer is under team control through the 2019 season for an extremely reasonable cost. With Arrieta and Lackey both set to hit free agency this offseason, adding a long-term piece like Archer to the rotation would be ideal.

If the Rays can put the Joe Maddon issue behind them, these two teams make sense in a trade for a lot of reasons. The Cubs are loaded with young position player talent and need pitching, while the Rays are loaded with pitching and need young and talented hitters. However, acquiring a guy like Archer is never going to be cheap.

The Rays will ask for guys like Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell and Javier Baez but that all seems extremely unlikely. However, after the strong start to his major league career, I do not think a package headlined by Ian Happ is out of the question.

Entering Thursday, Happ was hitting .294/.400/.647 through his short major league career. He certainly looks like an extremely valuable long-term offensive weapon who also provides great defensive versatility. Happ is an extremely talented player who would become the Rays’ best young offensive player.

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Happ alone would not get Archer to the Cubs but I think a package including him, Jeimer Candelario and a couple of other talented prospects would be close. Losing Happ would not be ideal, but imagine the Cubs’ rotation with Archer in the mix. Lester, Archer, Hendricks, Arrieta and Lackey is as good as any starting rotation in the game.

Simply put, adding Archer to the mix would cement the Cubs as World Series favorites.