The Yankees are in “extensive trade talks” for Tigers righty Jack Flaherty, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The Yankees plan to trade starter Nestor Cortes if they land Flaherty, adds Nightengale. Earlier today, we learned that Flaherty has been scratched from tonight’s start against the Guardians, with a trade expected soon.
Flaherty, who will be a free agent after the season, has experienced a resurgence this season and is sporting a career-best 27.5 K-BB% through 18 starts. The Tigers are 5.5 games out in the wild card and are a long shot to reach the playoffs, so Flaherty seems very likely to be dealt before tomorrow’s 5pm central time trade deadline.
The Yankees, meanwhile, are one game back of the Orioles in the AL East and currently hold a wild card spot. The Yanks have limped to an 8-13 record in July, though they won their last two at Boston. Senior vice president and GM Brian Cashman added Jazz Chisholm Jr. via trade yesterday, and is known to be seeking reinforcements for the pitching staff.
The New York Post’s Joel Sherman connected the Yankees to Flaherty on Saturday, and Sherman’s colleague Jon Heyman reported Cortes’ availability earlier today. Flaherty would form a dynamic 1-2 punch with ace Gerrit Cole. Even sans Cortes, the club could be adequately covered for the rest of the regular season with Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Luis Gil, with Clarke Schmidt on the mend from a lat strain. It’s also worth noting that Gil will surpass his professional career-high in innings (108 2/3) if he records five or more outs tonight in Philadelphia, so the Yankees may need to back off to keep him fresh for October.
Cortes, who leads the Yankees with 124 1/3 innings this year, owns a 4.13 ERA at present. With a 17.4 K-BB%, he’s an entirely capable big league pitcher, though he lacks the strikeout stuff Flaherty has shown this year. Cortes is under team control through 2025 as an arbitration eligible player, and will earn a raise on this year’s $3.95MM salary.
According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Yankees’ competitive balance tax payroll currently sits around $315MM. The club pays a 110% tax on anything above $297MM. A Cortes-Flaherty contract swap-out would increase the team’s CBT hit by around $3.3MM for the remainder of the season, which would carry a tax of about $3.6MM. But given that the Yankees are considering all sorts of different scenarios, we won’t know where the dust settles until about 24 hours from now.