Even after inking Kenta Maeda to a two-year deal, the Tigers were clear that they were still hunting for starting pitching.
Detroit made another addition on Thursday, agreeing to a one-year, $14 million deal with right-hander Jack Flaherty, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed the deal.
The 28-year-old joins Maeda in an upstart Detroit rotation that includes promising young arms like Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning and Reese Olson.
When Flaherty posted a 2.75 ERA and 5.8 bWAR as a 23-year-old in 2019 and finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting for the Cardinals, the sky appeared to be the limit for the burgeoning ace. Since that point, however, Flaherty has fluctuated between missing time with injuries and not quite reaching those lofty levels of ‘19.
From 2020-22, Flaherty appeared in just 35 games and threw 154 2/3 innings due to recurring shoulder issues and an oblique problem. His ERA jumped to 3.90 in that time while his previously strong strikeout and walk numbers dipped to roughly league average levels for a starter. To Flaherty’s credit, he was able to bounce back from an injury-plagued stretch and resemble a full-time starting pitcher in ‘23.
Flaherty tossed 144 1/3 innings in 2023, the most since his dominant ‘19 season. On the flip side, his 4.99 ERA, 5.10 expected ERA and 10.2% walk rate represented career worsts for any season in which he threw at least 50 innings. A quick summary of his issues in ‘23 boils down to poor command, a career-low 93.1 mph average fastball and a once-dominant slider that allowed a .959 OPS.
After the longtime Cardinal was traded to the Orioles in August, Flaherty posted a 6.75 ERA in nine outings (seven starts) with Baltimore. With a tough ending to the season that ended with him pitching out of the bullpen for the Orioles, questions remain about his potential effectiveness as a full-time starter. Even with some of the recent concerns though, Flaherty is just 28 years old, has a high level of previous success and is healthy for the first time in quite a while.