A look at what’s happening around the majors today:MORE THAN A RENTALChris Archer makes his first start for the Pirates in what the team hopes could be the beginning of a long and productive stint in Pittsburgh. Tuesday’s non-waiver trade deadline. Pittsburgh also got closer Keone Kela from the Texas Rangers and drew praise around baseball for acquiring players who will remain under team control for years. Archer has options in his contract that could keep him in Pittsburgh through 2021. Kela won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2021 season.The 29-year-old Archer http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-yolmer-sanchez-jersey , a former All-Star, hopes to help the Pirates earn a playoff spot. He made the postseason once in seven seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays. Pittsburgh got back into contention with an 11-game winning streak last month.EMPTY HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGETropicana Field is known as a tough place to play – not necessarily because of the Tampa Bay Rays, but because of the quiet, sterile atmosphere and the odd catwalks that sometimes catch balls in play. Tampa Bay ranks 29th among the 30 teams in average attendance, drawing 14,851 per game.Lately, though, the Rays have done their part. Tampa Bay is 20-4 at the Trop since June 11, the best home record in the majors during that span, and can improve on that mark by winning the opener of a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Friday. The Rays have increasingly turned to “bullpen days” during their surge – using a reliever as the ”opener” to work an inning or two and then turning to a long reliever. That’s what they’ll do on Friday, too, with Ryne Stanek scheduled to start against Chicago’s Lucas Giolito.STRUGGLING SEVERINOThe Yankees hope their ace will get back on track amid turmoil at the bottom of their starting rotation. Luis Severino has allowed 17 earned runs over 19 1/3 innings in his last four starts, and the All-Star’s ERA has risen from 1.98 to 2.94 during that span. His most recent outing was the worst of the bunch as he allowed six runs in 4 1/3 innings in a loss to Kansas City. He takes the mound Friday against the rival Boston Red Sox and Rick Porcello (13-4, 4.03).BRYCE BASHESThe Washington Nationals are scoring runs in bunches Adam Engel Jersey , and Bryce Harper is a big reason why. Harper is 7 for 13 over his past four games with a homer and five RBIs, and the Nats followed up their 25-4 romp over the Mets by scoring 15 runs in winning their next two games. Having Adam Eaton and Daniel Murphy healthy enough to play every day has made a difference, along with the emergence of rookie Juan Soto, who’s been hitting behind Harper after Washington struggled to protect him through much of the first half.”When your seven-hole hitter is Daniel Murphy, you’ve got a chance,” Harper said after Wednesday’s game. ”It’s a special lineup.”— NEW YORK (AP) — Allard Baird believes the New York Mets are ready to win now.“You need impact starting pitching and they have it here. That was one of the attractive things,” he said Thursday, a day after leaving the World Series champion Boston Red Sox to become an assistant general manager under new Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen.New York’s rotation is headed by NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, and it also includes Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz and Jason Vargas,But the Mets were next to last in the major leagues with a .234 batting average, just ahead of Philadelphia, and 21st with 170 home runs. Three years after winning the NL pennant, New York finished fourth in the NL East at 77-85.“There are areas that we need to improve http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-davidson-jersey , and I know Brody is working extremely hard, as well as everybody else in the organization, to get there as quick as possible,” Baird said. “I think it goes well beyond the major league club. It’s the things that do not make the headlines that we’re attacking.”Baird was the Kansas City Royals’ general manager from June 2000 to May 2006 and spent the last 12 years with Boston, including the last three as senior vice president of player personnel. His title with the Mets is vice president and assistant general manager of scouting and player development.New York also hired Adam Guttridge as an assistant GM — he had been an analytics consultant to teams after spending five years working for the Milwaukee Brewers, the last year as manager of baseball research and development.John Ricco was the only assistant GM under Van Wagenen’s predecessor, Sandy Alderson. Ricco also is senior vice president for baseball operations and was one of Alderson’s trio of top executives along with special assistants J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya. Ricciardi left three weeks ago.Baird’s offseason home had been in Miami, but he kept a New York apartment even before the Mets hired him and already has moved. He was surprised when the Mets hired Van Wagenen, who had represented players as the co-ahead of CAA Baseball.“The leadership and the vision that Brody has for this organization as a whole really played into this,” Baird said. “When he was named general manager, I have to admit I took a step back because I’m thinking how is this going to work? I know that he has attributes as a communicator, knowing what players go through.”Baird said he was convinced to take the job during a conversation on Thanksgiving, concluding “we had a chance to do something special here.”While New York has not had a large analytics staff compared with some other teams, Baird said data already is in place “and we probably in my mind need to utilize it more in different ways.”“The bells and whistles should never get to the scout. The bells and whistles do not have to get to the player development staff. The bells and whistles never have to get to the individual player Lucas Giolito Jersey ,” he said.Instead, the burden falls on the pedagogical skills of the coaching staff, what Baird says is “the ability to take that information, break it down, make it simple, filter it through, get it to the players and be able to make themselves better instructors.”New York already has revamped its on-field staff, bringing in longtime big league manager Jim Riggleman as bench coach for Mickey Callaway, who took over as manager from Terry Collins after the 2017 season.Notes: Infielder Dilson Herrera agreed to a minor league contract and will attend big league spring training. He made his big league debut with the Mets in 2014, was traded to Cincinnati in 2016 and hit .184 with five homers and 11 RBIs in 53 games with the Reds last season.… OF-1B Jordan Patterson was claimed off waivers by Cincinnati, three days after the Mets claimed Patterson from Colorado.