Originally Posted by
clvclv
Completely different circumstances too - just to be as fair as possible.
Remember, when they traded for Archer, Frazier couldn't crack their starting lineup - Marte was in CF, they still had the "good" Polanco (23 HRs, 32 2Bs, 12 SBs that year), Josh Bell had just been promoted, Josh Harrison was playing like an All-Star, Taillon looked like a legitimate #1/#2, Trevor Williams looked like a legitimate #3, Joe Musgrove was their #4, and Mitch Keller was the #16 prospect on Pipeline's list absolutely blowing everyone away in the minors. Keller was the #2 RHSP ahead of Casey Mize, Michael Kopech, Mike Soroka, Sixto Sanchez, and Hunter Greene that year. Marte and Polanco had already signed extremely team-friendly extensions based on how they were performing at the time, Ke'Bryan Hayes was on his way, Moran was doing a pretty good job of holding down 3B, and Brian Reynolds was their #8 prospect and was 26 years old in AA.
Had the Archer trade worked out and they had gotten the guy they thought they were trading for, the Pirates were in really good shape for several years to come when they made that deal. They had just drafted Travis Swaggerty (who was a Top 100 guy before he started playing), and Cole Tucker was expected to be their SS of the near future and stole 35 bases in AA that season.
At the end of the day it turned out to be a really lopsided trade because of what the three guys they gave up turned into, but none of them were their top prospects at the time (Glasnow was having loads of trouble throwing strikes, and there were tons of people that were convinced that he was ultimately going to be a RP), they were trading from their depth, and they were really trying to make what was a competitive team (at the time) that much more competitive.