FORT MYERS, Fla. — Even after their flurry of moves this spring, the Twins still needed another starting pitcher to solidify their rotation picture. They addressed that need on Monday, agreeing to a one-year deal with free-agent right-hander Chris Archer, the club announced. The deal is worth $3.5 million with a $10 million mutual option for 2023, sources told MLB.com. The club has not confirmed the terms.
The $3.5 million guarantee encompasses a base salary of $2.75 million for the ’22 season and a $750,000 buyout in ’23 if the Twins choose not to exercise their end of the mutual option. Archer can also earn up to $6 million in performance bonuses this year.
Archer joins a rotation picture that already featured Sonny Gray, Dylan Bundy, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober ahead of an uncertain fifth spot. He’s said to have been independently maintaining a ramp-up toward the season, though it remains to be seen how deep the Twins will let him pitch upon his slotting into the rotation.
The Twins had added Carlos Correa (free agent), Gray (trade), Joe Smith (free agent), Gary Sánchez and Gio Urshela (trade) to their Major League group coming out of the lockout, but they continued to look to add to a rotation in which the only sure components entering the offseason were Ryan and Ober, who have a combined 25 games of MLB experience between them.
Various reports had connected the Twins to the A’s, who have reportedly been shopping front-line starters Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, but MLB Network insider Jon Heyman reported on Wednesday that teams were getting the impression that Oakland could hold onto both starters into the regular season.
The 33-year-old Archer pitched to a 4.66 ERA in six appearances (five starts) with the Rays last season, another campaign marred by injury issues for the two-time All-Star who was once a frontline starter during a seven-year stint with Tampa Bay to begin his career.
After missing the entire 2020 season following surgery to address neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome, Archer made two appearances with the Rays in April before he was sidelined until August with lateral forearm tightness and experienced continued setbacks due to hip tightness that eventually sent him back to the IL in September.
With No. 7 prospect Josh Winder and non-roster invitee Chi Chi González the most likely candidates for that fifth spot in camp, Archer’s arrival gives the Twins a veteran to potentially fill that opening in the rotation while Winder and other starting prospects like Jordan Balazovic, Drew Strotman, Cole Sands and Simeon Woods Richardson continue their maturation in the Minors ahead of possible callups later this season.