Fantasy Baseball Trade Reaction: A fresh start could do Chris Archer, Tyler Glasnow some good

The trade of would-be ace Chris Archer for Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows could be a good thing for all three players in Fantasy.

• For the rest of the fallout from the deadline, check out Scott White and Chris Towers' deadline-day recap here. 
  

And you thought this trade deadline would be boring.

In the hours before Tuesday's deadline, we saw a flurry of activity, with a number of Fantasy relevant deals going through — on top of the busy pre-deadline work. The biggest name moved was Chris Archer, who the Pirates acquired for a package of three young players, headlined by Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows. 

This move may not shake up any pennant races, but it's a fascinating one for Fantasy purposes. It could see three different players improve their Fantasy stock. Let's break it down. 

Chris Archer to the Pirates

It's pretty clear Archer needed a change of scenery — if only to get away from those AL East ballparks. The peripherals still look solid enough, but we're going on three years in a row of an ERA around or above 4.00, and it's fair to wonder if it's not just a case of bad luck, despite a 3.62 FIP and more than a K per inning.

That being said, Archer is still tremendously talented. His slider is still a big-time swing-and-miss pitch, and he's gotten some really good results from his changeup in 2018 — a .213 average allowed and only one extra-base hit in 47 at-bats that have ended with the pitch, per BrooksBaseball.net. There are tweaks to be made with Archer that can unlock his potential, and maybe the Pirates and Ray Searage can work some magic.

It's not a guarantee, of course. In fact, it's not hard to see how this move could go wrong for Archer. His fastball has been a problem for him, and no team throws the fastball more than the Pirates. Maybe the Pirates can nudge the fastball down in the zone more often, leading to fewer longballs, but if they try to get him to go out and throw 65 percent fastballs like the rest of their staff, Archer's track record suggests that could blow up on them.

Still, if you were looking for a reason to buy low on Archer, a move to the NL is a good enough one to make a move on. If nothing else, he'll get more strikeouts and give up fewer long balls facing the pitcher a few times per game. Given how good the peripherals have been, maybe that's the small change he needs.

In the end, this is a net-positive for Archer's value. He's worth a considerable bid in any NL-only FAAB waivers run. Probably the biggest of the day.

Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows to the Rays

This could be really fun. It could be really ugly, too, but I'll present the optimistic case first.

Glasnow was a favorite sleeper before the season, but the Pirates never seemed willing to give him a chance in the rotation. He has nothing left to prove in the minors, having absolutely dominated at Triple-A, and we've seen flashes of his incredible potential in the majors. Glasnow has struck out 29.6 percent of opposing batters this season, with a solid 11.5 percent swinging strike rate overall. His average fastball velocity has jumped to 97.1 mph out of the bullpen this season, and he's racking up groundballs at a 56.0 percent rate. There's still a high-upside profile here.

Of course, there's still considerable risk. He doesn't have a reliable third pitch, and he still walks 14.0 percent of opposing hitters, a gigantic number. Glasnow is by no means a sure thing, and we don't even know if the Rays are going to put him in their rotation.

But they should. The Rays have been competitive, but they're still looking for high-upside pieces for the next contender in Tampa Bay, and if they can fix his control issues the same way they did with Blake Snell — he went from walking 12.7 percent of hitters in 2016 to 9.9 this season — Glasnow could give them a formidable second arm at the top of the rotation.

I'm willing to add him in any AL-only league, and deeper category-based leagues if he gets the chance to start.

I'm a bit less excited about Meadows than I about Glasnow — especially because the Rays sent him down to Triple-A for the time being — but he's obviously still worth mentioning. Meadows came out of the gates like a bat out of hell upon getting called up, recording multiple hits in seven of his first 10 starts, hitting .439 with four homers in that span. He has hit .239/.293/.327 in 38 games since then before losing his everyday job and ultimately heading back to Triple-A. However, there's still potential for a power/speed-based contributor here, if not a star. I'm not running out to get him outside of AL-only leagues as a stash, but if Meadows earns an everyday role in Tampa, he'll be worth a look in deeper mixed leagues.