Tigers righty Jack Flaherty is being scratched from tonight’s start in Detroit against the Guardians, according to Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman says a trade “should be expected soon,” so the Tigers aren’t taking any chances. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press isn’t aware of a deal in place, but agrees the Tigers “still plan to trade him.”
Flaherty, 29 in October, has a 2.95 ERA in 18 starts this year. Among pitchers with at least 100 innings, his 32 K% ranks fifth in all of MLB. Flaherty will be a rental, given the one-year, $14MM deal he signed with the Tigers back in December. The Tigers enter play tonight 5.5 games out in the wild card race, but their estimated 5.2% chance at the playoffs evidently is not enough to convince president of baseball operations Scott Harris to hang on to his co-ace and just issue a qualifying offer after the season.
Flaherty, a first-round pick by the Cardinals a decade ago, finished fourth in the NL Cy Young voting in 2019. An oblique strain cost him more than two months in 2021, after which he strained his shoulder and had to work out of the bullpen. Shoulder issues persisted into 2022, a season in which Flaherty tallied only 36 innings. Amid an unimpressive ’23 season, the Cardinals shipped their former ace to the Orioles in an uneventful deal. Just shy of a year later, the old Jack Flaherty is back, to the great benefit of the Tigers and his likely new team. Flaherty missed a few starts in June due to a back injury, but he avoided the IL and has taken his last three turns with excellent results.
If a Flaherty trade is prospect-focused, it will represent a nail in the coffin on the Tigers’ 2024 season. The club’s rotation depth is perilously thin behind Tarik Skubal and Flaherty, featuring veteran Kenta Maeda and rookie Keider Montero. Reese Olson is on the IL with an apparently mild shoulder injury, while Casey Mize is working his way back from a hamstring injury.
Flaherty is a top target for many contenders, given his excellence, past success, and availability. The Padres, Dodgers, Yankees, and Astros have been linked to him, and even the Orioles haven’t been ruled out despite the pitcher’s struggles with that club last year. That’s likely not a complete list of suitors for Flaherty.