The Tigers announced that they have signed right-hander Jack Flaherty to a one-year, $14MM deal. He can also earn an extra $1MM in bonuses based on games started: $250K for 26 and 28 starts, then another $500K for 30. Flaherty is a client of CAA Sports.
Just 28 years old, Flaherty isn’t all that far removed from looking like one of the National League’s budding young aces. The former first-rounder was one of the sport’s top all-around prospects prior to making his big league debut, which came in 2017.
The following year saw the California native pitch to a sharp 3.34 earned run average through 151 big league innings, but Flaherty’s best work came, of all times, during the juiced-ball season in 2019. That year’s 2.75 ERA, 29.9% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 1.15 HR/9 would be strong marks in any season but were especially impressive during the highest run-scoring environment since the steroid era. Two teams broke MLB’s single-season home run record that year, and yet while many pitchers throughout the league posted career-worst marks, Flaherty shined at his absolute brightest.
Unfortunately for both Flaherty and the Cardinals, that brilliant start to his career didn’t hold up. Injuries, primarily shoulder issues, conspired to limit Flaherty to just 154 1/3 innings over the next three seasons combined. During that time, he worked with slightly lesser velocity (93.9 mph) than his 94.5 mph peak, and his walk and home-run rates trended in the wrong direction. Overall, he posted a 3.90 earned run average but was limited to 32 starts (and another three bullpen outings).
The 2023 season for Flaherty was split between the Cardinals and the Orioles, who acquired him in a trade deadline deal sending lefty Drew Rom and prospects Cesar Prieto and Zack Showalter from Baltimore back to St. Louis. It was a mixed bag of a season for the righty. On the one hand, Flaherty’s 27 starts and 144 1/3 innings clearly made for his healthiest season since that brilliant ’19 effort. On the other, his 4.99 ERA was a career-worst (outside of a 21-inning sample as a rookie in 2017). His 22.8% strikeout rate was about average, but Flaherty’s 10.6% walk rate was elevated and his 93.2 mph average heater was down even further.
Despite the poor 2023 showing, Flaherty drew interest from at least the Pirates, Royals and Tigers — though his market surely included other suitors. There’s good sense in taking a flier on Flaherty, given his age, former prospect pedigree and the heights he reached earlier in his career.
As we noted on our Top 50 Free Agent Rankings, while we predicted a three-year pact for the righty — presuming a team would extend a multi-year pact in hopes of acquiring a below-market bargain — a straight one-year pillow deal always figured to be on the table. With strong results this year Flaherty can return to the market as a 29-year-old in position for a much more lucrative deal. The downside, of course, is that with another lackluster performance, Flaherty could well hit the market with considerably less earning power and no interest on multi-year contracts. Despite that potential, he’ll bet on himself with the more traditional approach and hope to cash in a year from now.
Should things play out that way, it’ll be to the benefit of the Tigers, who’ll not only have the opportunity to help Flaherty return to something resembling his peak levels but — if things play out that way — extend a qualifying offer to the righty. There’s a long way to go before that scenario is in play, but Flaherty’s early-career performance shows that he clearly has the talent to merit that type of offer when he’s at his best.
Flaherty becomes the second free-agent addition to what will be a dramatically different Tigers rotation than the one we saw in 2023. Gone is veteran lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, who opted out of the three years and $49MM on his contract and scored a four-year, $80MM deal with the NL champion D-backs. Flaherty and righty Kenta Maeda, fresh off an excellent finish to his ’23 campaign with the division-rival Twins, will take up the mantle of veteran rotation leaders for skipper AJ Hinch.
Not only will the Tigers have that newly signed pair of arms, they’ll also welcome 2018 No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize back into the fold after a season lost to Tommy John surgery. Standout lefty Tarik Skubal returns as the team’s top starter, and the quartet of Skubal, Flaherty, Maeda and Mize will be joined by some combination of Reese Olson, Matt Manning and Sawyer Gipson-Long. Olson, in particular, had a solid rookie campaign. Manning, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick and top prospect himself — one who’ll be looking for better luck in 2024. In astonishing fashion, Manning suffered a broken left foot on two different occasions, both upon being struck by a comeback liner (once in April and again in September).
With Flaherty’s $14MM salary added to the books, the Tigers’ payroll projection climbs north of $104MM. That’s still quite a ways down from last year’s $135MM Opening Day mark — due in no small part to Miguel Cabrera’s retirement — and nowhere close to the franchise-record $200MM mark. The Tigers will surely want to leave ample playing time for young, potential core pieces like Mize, Skubal, Manning, Olson, Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Kerry Carpenter and prospects Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy. But there’s still enough payroll space for the team to make some further additions, perhaps in the bullpen or on the bench.
Trevor Plouffe of Jomboy first connected the two sides. Jeff Passan of ESPN first relayed the contract specifics.
Another pitcher signs. Where are the Red Sox?
Dodging bullets, on this one at least.
I thought the same thing, 4…..signed, Reds fans
Just like in 2021 as the shortstops came off the board one by one
Which is fine, I agree, but still, they should be involved with pitching in some way.
Montgomery, Wacha, Imanaga, etc…clock is running but there is still time.
Our ownership don’t care .. I’ve made it clear on numerous post.. their happy with mediocre and don’t care about the team no more .. as long as our fans continue too support the team buying tickets , jerseys, going too the games .. they still making money so too them their pockets are still getting full .. we have one of the highest prices tickets in all of MLB in one of the oldest stadiums and yet the money isn’t used for the team it’s used for them too fly private !!!
Did you not see seattle rebuffed them?
Overpay
That could mean that Boston made a low-ball offer.
Boyd got 10 last year. Not too crazy
I wouldn’t want this guy personality wise. I haven’t seen any bargains but sox have handed out worse contracts. Still time to do something though.
The Sox are “interested.” That’s as far as it goes.
FatChance: While the other Sox watch teams all around them – Tigers, Royals – improve their rosters, ensuring the Sox will hit rock bottom in the division next season. Even with the Twins holding a fire sale, they’ll still finish ahead of the AAAA Sox.
Flaherty was not going to be the answer to the Sox problem and 3 years and $45 million for Lugo probably wouldn’t have ended well either.
Agreed, but that’s besides the point. They have speculated to be involved in good pitching but nothing yet.
With our thumbs up our asses
Asleep at the wheel !! No worries, John Henry is waiting for Chi Chi Gonzalez & re-upping Corey Kluber.
As they say, there’s not a bad 1 year deal. Good luck for both.
I had Flaherty to the Red Sox in my predictions. They didn’t even want him? Red Sox Nation is going to be rooting for the opposition this coming season.
There is still hope. If they sign Yamamoto and either Snell or Montgomery/Imanaga I will be excited. That’s a big IF, though. They also need to bring JDMartinez or Justin Turner back, and sign a 2nd baseman like Adam Frazier.
We don’t need another DH. Pitching is the focus and there’s no way we get two big free agents. I could see getting one. Breslow said we will most likely complete these transactions through trades.
14 million?
14 million is a huge investment for a guy who hasn’t been decent in a couple years even if he did look like an ace in his first few seasons. But I think the Tigers make sense for both. He can be flipped and make the investment pay off for more than one season and the Tigers won’t contend regardless so he’ll have a longer leash than he would with Boston for example. Pretty nice to be a pitcher right now even in a deep market the price for a bounce back candidate is still 15 million
The Halo’s couldn’t match that?
Why would they?
The Halos would have to overpay to get anyone to join their dumpster fire of a franchise. They have the most worstest medical and training staff in professional sports. The only team that comes close is the Chargers.
Also, Flaherty wants to play in spacious Comerica with great fielders behind him so he can optimize his numbers and get a more lucrative contract next year. The Halos have broken players playing broken defense.
14 million is a lot of scratch
But I will follow him, I am curious if he can be fixed
Not really on a one year deal. It’s not a bad “risk”.
$14MM is a lot of money for what Flaherty did last year. Doesn’t screw you long term but not cheap at all.
but it IS cheap for the Tigers who have a low payroll to begin with.
Given that MLBTR predicted $40M/3 years, he must not have found a market if he’s taking this
I’d heard speculation that he was looking for a one-year deal, but it’s hard to believe that’s the case given his inability to get through a season. Shame, because I liked him when he was a Cardinal (the rare times he was actually able to pitch), and if he really was looking for a one year deal, he’s stupidly overconfident in his ability to stay healthy and not tank his next contract.
You’re assuming he was actually injured all the time he was out with the Cardinals. I’m not so sure.
But hey, payday finally arrived for Jack. Hope it was all you thought it would be. Best of luck in Motown.
DonO, what’s that based on? Seems unlikely, but I’m all ears
Pure speculation on my part. After his breakout in the second half of 2019, the Cardinals handled him with extreme caution in 2020, which was understandable. But it was done with the intention of keeping him healthy.
The team expected he would be fully healthy in 2021, but he was “hurt” from the start. The team again expected him to be healthy in ’22, but he claimed to have been hurt the entire offseason. The team made no attempt to bolster it’s rotation, supposedly because they expected Flaherty at full strength. Somewhere there is a communication breakdown.
Then during his platform year before free agency, he shows up, takes the ball every five days, and doesn’t need any kind of build up or pitch limitation after missing most of three seasons. It seems suspect to me. Jack always felt he was underpaid. I think he was trying to show that arbitration eligible players do have leverage. I don’t think it worked out the way he hoped.
Interesting thought. I suspect it’s more likely he was injured, or general Cardinal dysfunction, but I’ll let the idea take-up some headspace 🙂
Pretty sure it’s not the general Cardinal dysfunction. I doubt it went exactly like Don stated, but, given Flaherty’s lack of playing time he’s hardly in the position to make demands. He’ll get “hurt” in spring, or something
If you read my posts on players salaries if I’m on one side or the other everyone would say I’m on the owners side and that’s fine.
If the game needs fixing in one area it’s giving incentives to those pre arb starters who take the ball every day early in their careers and provide huge surplus value. Even this deal he signed is ass backwards. He base salary should be way lower and the incentives for starting 25 games should be much higher in the millions. 30 starts should get you 10 million in this current market and era in the game.
I know this isn’t how it works but this is how it should in my opinion but the owners or players aren’t going to go for it.
I agree with Don and also on board with the speculation. I also believe Jack hated the culture in the STL area and couldn’t wait to leave.
I think he will be a good pitcher for someone. He has the talent. Maybe now that he can get paid he’ll stay healthy.
How was he hurt from the start in 2021 when he posted some of his best numbers in April and May of that season before he hit the IL?
As for 2022, while yes they were expecting a healthy Flaherty, the did also bolster their rotation by signing Matz and resigning Wainwright, while also having decent depth behind them, but somehow everyone except Mikolas and Wainwright kept getting hurt.
@stan
He must’ve hated Baltimore too. I can’t imagine Detroit Michigan sparks his inner joy but I guess we’ll see.
FOS,,,,,, yeah, he had an attitude!
Their predictions are always terrible lol.
Another starting pitcher off the market that the Braves could have easily signed. The Braves are twiddling their thumbs when they have talked so big about adding to their starting pitching. If they screw up and trade Waldrep or Smith-Shawver (or worse both of them) for one of the pitchers out on the trade market they should be deluged with calls from fans telling the Braves front office how stupid they are.
The Braves probably didn’t wanna spend $14m on a guy with an ERA of 5.
And lost his starting job with two teams, including a real bad one, in one season!
He didn’t lose his starting job with the Cardinals. He started on schedule up until he was traded. His ERA was under 4.50 at that point, which isn’t that much of an improvement but sadly still made him one of the team’s better starters.
There are lots of really impatient fans that want their tieams to sign bad contracts just to, “do something”. Then those same fans will lament the contracts when they go poorly.
I really thought you would talk about the Pirates.
Wille-Mays: Willie Mays spells his first name W-I-L-L-I-E. The greatest player of his era and one of the greatest of all time should at least have his name spelled right.
If you want to have a short Willie, who are the rest of us to disagree? But keep it family friendly.
As if Cherington had serious plans to sign a major league pitcher with any potential
The Bucs will be digging into the bottom of the barrel for one.
There or the dumpster
I was thinking same thing if royals can give lugo a 3 year contract the pirates could have as well. They need sign a pitcher on a multiple year deal to provide some stability with this rotation. Looking like same formula as last year
And there you have the difference between teams like the Dodgers, Yankees & some of the other big market teams. They will spend. The mid & small market teams? Nope! Plead their same old worn out excuse “we can’t afford to do that” and laugh all the way to the bank. With your money.
Good pass by the Braves. Good pass by any team. I don’t like employees like him.
The braves front office is stupid now? Generally look at as possibly the best but this guy says they’re stupid. Great take buddy.
Must stink to be a fan of a team so boring that you worry about other teams business lol
Even the writer for Pirates Prospects gave up. After 15 years, he wrote a scathing article about the Pirates efforts and stated he’s only writing three paragraphs on the subject, if that. It’s a shame because Tim Williams gave impressive insight and analysis. Maybe mlbtraderumors can use him?
Tim sounds like a toxic clueless writer giving his toxic clueless audience what they want. Pirates are having their best off season in a decade. They still have 2 months left. Already got 1 of the best 1b and 2 of the best pitchers. Added outfield and catching depth. Ben says he wants to add more. I agree that another starter is needed. Last year was a good off season as well. Rebuild is right on schedule.
It’s okay if you drink the Kool Aid @YourDreamGM and believe. I’ll still enjoy the stories that come from the Pirates themselves. Tim does write good in depth articles though.
Also, the rebuild is on schedule? Yikes, your project management skills are off. I’d get fired if I turned in my projects this late.
Baltimore just made playoffs and started rebuild trade deadline 2018. Pirates didn’t start until beginning of 2021. Took Cubs Astros about 5 years. They were awful for 20 years in a row and been almost a decade since they made playoffs. I can give them another year or two.
14 mil huh he will be traded by the deadline
Not this year.
Go tigers !
Don’t blame the Pirates if that was the asking price. Looks like MAJOR overpay I think 2021was his last good season
$14M after the season he had last year? Yeah, Pirates can find a MUCH better pitcher for the money. Not sure what the Tigers are thinking, but they overpaid big time for this clunker.
Very hard to overpay for one year. That is Scott Harris’ MO.
In a multi year deal he was easily looking at $10-12 AAV annually. $14M without being handcuffed longterm is not bad at all. Adds another veteran presence with Maeda and if needed be possibly a valuable trade piece at deadline.
With the AL Central being weak I could see the Tigers still contending at break and holding pieces unfortunately. I’d rather they keep flipping parts and bolster young talent opposed to attempting to get a sniff of one round of the playoffs.
A lot of people said the same thing when the Tigers signed Lorenzon.
Fetters can do wonders, but after signing Maeda, I was really thinking they would look for reliable innings from their next signing. Flaherty doesn’t offer that. Still, he’s young, and has tools. If the Tigers are going to acquire a young talent from a team like Baltimore or Cinci, they now have the depth to do so. Which SP, other than Skubal, will be on the move?
I don’t know if you can find a much better pitcher for the money, but you can probably find a more consistent one. If Flaherty somehow manages to stay healthy, this probably won’t look bad.
$14 million given to a pitcher who has a history of injuries is probably now the going rate for free agents
The going rate was 70 million..
Piratesfan, Not according to Red Sox fans here on this website.
They need to sign every pitcher that’s available and when any single guy signs elsewhere, they blow a gasket.
Question remains for the last two weeks.., who have the Red Sox missed out on? That’s right, nobody.
GaryWarrior: They’re still supposedly in the running for Yamamoto. It would be nice if he and Yoshida went to school together or were on the same Little League team. Maybe he could convince Yamamoto to play in Boston. It worked in Seattle between Ichiro and Ohtani.
I wouldn’t want him for 1 million unless I can get in the contract he can keep his mouth shut.
So you’re against free speech. Got it.
Free speech is a distraction in the clubhouse. If the distraction performs like Reggie Jackson you can deal with it, however if the distraction is an often injured entitled SP who’s track record the last 3 years has been garbage yea you are against it.
Most people are for free speech as long as they aren’t the audience. Say whatever you want as it is your right to do so in the usa but just not to me because I don’t care what you have to say. They feel how they feel about an issue and no one can persuade them to change their mind. They don’t care what A list people think so they definitely don’t want to hear this nobody run his mouth.
I am in the hole a minority. Even if I agree with you I don’t want to listen to you yap.
Yeah, it’s probably an overpay, but given he’s only 28 and was once an excellent pitcher who did actually manage to stay healthy this past season, it’s not that bad of a deal.
Sheesh, nice annual for the guy
No such thing as a bad one-year contract. It’s low risk and possibly high return on Flaherty. If he stinks, flip him at the deadline for whatever Detroit can get. If nobody wants him, just ride out the contract.
Of course, if Flaherty somehow remembers how to pitch, the Tigers get a diamond in the rough at way below market price. Which would be nice.
$14M for that?? Yikes
Starting pitchers, or any FA for that matter, get a premium for being 28.
Covid high season prices.
Reds missed the boat on another starting pitcher, as expected.
Po Boy just can’t sign real top of rotation type veteran major league pitching. Just can’t do it.
Glasnow is off the table now too. Interested to see who they sign or trade for.
Yeah watching pitchers come off the board as we watched shortstops come off the board in 2021
Bob: Wasn’t the SS frenzy after the 2022 season?
dude! calm down and be patient. reds…..this guy sure isn’t the answer
Heard that all last offseason too.
get over it man! this is WAY different than last season. enjoy the team.
Get some new material. Kid gm does nothing. Gotta love when new fans want their team who just got out from some terrible contracts to give out new terrible contracts.
Which other top of the rotation types (I guess you can count Ohtani even before seeing how he comes back from TJS #2) have signed?
Thank God the reds didn’t sign this guy lol. What are u even talking about this one ?!? How would flarety even crack the rotation let alone be the ace u been dying for over the past year
This will be the type of guy they will sign ultimately, just like Weaver. A guy on the downs looking to come back. Manoah is probably another possibility. If you think Po Boy will actually pony up and sign another real ace, even with only an 88 million payroll, you haven’t paid attention.
Also, if you think Flaherty wouldn’t crack the rotation, you overestimate who they have. Remember yhese guys are injured often and haven’t pitched an entire major league year.
It’s about team building for the long haul. Failed at that last season and this offseason has not been much better. A spot starter/long relief guy, an up and down reliever, an infielder and a third catcher, both they didn’t really need.
I hate to see another year of this group wasted. But we have had 33 years of this idiocy now.
They have already signed that guy. His name is Nick Martinez and I’ll take him and Phillips over Flaretty and those are reds 6 and 7th starters.
Building for the long haul – buddy, I’ve been trying to get u to come around on that philosophy since May and that’s what krall is going from my perspective. Trading Phillips for Glasnow would be the opposite of building for the long haul. And signing Glasnow to an extension is a great risk for reds. So not moving on both those dudes was the right move.
Meanwhile, they will keep missing the playoffs oe at best do an early exit until they have the break these guys up too. Great philosophy.
We have seen this act before.
Flaretty doesn’t get them to the WS or even out of the first round. In fact he may miss out on the playoff roster all together he’d be so far down the depth chart.
Cease giolito clevinger stroman and woodruff are all still out there.
1 year 15-25 mill for woodruff makes a lot of sense to me. He comes back second half and can be that ace this team needs
This is not about Flaherty as you try to make it out to be. It’s about wiilingness to get what the need. Starting pitchers are dropping like flies including those they were familiar with already.
I hope they can pursue some of those names but I don’t have that kind of faith in Po Boy knowing his past.
Awesome. I am excited to see what Fetter can do with Flaherty. The guy is only 28 and it was not that long ago that he was considered a burgeoning ace. Very happy with this signing and the Tigers offseason so far. One more bat would be nice but then again, with young players like Keith and Malloy coming up this year (followed by Perez, Jung, Leonard) maybe one more bat isn’t an absolute necessity. There are not many spots a bat would fit unless it was a significant upgrade.
4 years ago is a pretty long time by baseball standards.
Another solid signing for Tigers..their starting rotation is now set…still need to find a legit Bat at 2nd or 3rd base and another low cost bullpen piece…they are close to winning this garbage Division now…
Right out: It will probably be between the Tigers and Royals fighting for garbage supremacy. Still don’t see a WC coming from that division.
Why a “low cost” bullpen piece? They have money to spend. With the division asking to be taken, now is the time. If they added a closer, and Lange, Foley, Holton, Chafin, Vest, Faedo all take one step back in the pecking order, what a bullpen that would be!
Seems to be the MO for the Tigers since Harris came aboard. Find a pitcher they think they can fix. Harris said as much last year, wanting to be the place players can come and rehab their career. Flaherty seems to fit that mold to a T. Tigers have 3 young pitchers in Mize, Manning, and Skubal that all have a lot of talent though 2 coming off injuries. A solid veteran in Maeda, a veteran looking for some redemption, and two young guys in Sawyer Gipson-Long and Reese Olson who can sub in case of injury. May not be the star studded rotation some fans want but Yamamoto and Imanaga were always likely to sign elsewhere. It can be however a petty solid rotation for the Tigers.
I don’t recall Harris saying that, if he had I’d assume he meant that in the shortterm and not the longterm plan for the club.
Seeing where they currently stand, I like this signing. It’s a very short commitment while they try and get the young arms healthy.
I’m hoping the next move here is an attempt to sign Urshela. I think he’d be a great fit and fill the void at 3B.
Harris said it, and he didn’t seem to be talking about short term.
You’re taking the Harris quote completely out of context. You make it sound like his plan is to only sign reclamation projects as free agents and save money by avoiding legit free agent splashes.
In reality he was speaking specifically in reference to a question about Lorenzen, and how he trusts the analytics, scouting & coaching staffs they’ve assembled to max out the potential of players that are undervalued league-wide and yet have potential they’ve yet to hit.
Huge difference there.
And if it makes a difference, I agree with everything Harris said at that time. They DO have a great pitching coach staff, and have made several smart hires behind the scenes, poaching guys from places like Tampa, Frisco and Cubs, three teams known for doing pretty well with advanced scouting and analytics.
In an MLB offseason that lacks any sort of non-Ohtani intrigue and virtually no “names” on the trade block or, Matt Chapman aside, free agency targets, the Tigers have made a few solid moves.
Am I satisfied with Detroit offseason or Harris overall job thus far? No. But at least I can rationalize his moves and see a plan in action.
That’s more than I could ever say about his predecessor
I always saw Avila’s plan, but he had terrible…luck…with signing FAs, especially pitchers. He did an incredible job of rebuilding the farm after DD left it empty. And he brought in Fetters to be a coach. So far this off-season, HARRIS has done alright. Losing Zack Short on waivers may come back to bite him, as there is little depth at SS, and he was the only legit replacement defensively. Watching E-Rod leave for no return, signing an affordable contract that would have fit the Tigers budget, was no fun. Flaherty is fine but E-Rod would have been better. I did not like the Turnbull cut. Too much talent at $2MM to be cutting him because of a dispute with the POBO. For those counting, this is his third time on that. First, Candelario, in a dispute over a $1MM difference, Second, E-Rod, when HARRIS botched the trade deadline, and third, his bad communication with Turnbull on his rehab. Losing three assets for no return should be a firing offence.
Tigers sneaky good next year?
Quite possibly. Their rotation probably looks like this
Skubal
Maeda
Flaherty
Olson
Manning
with
Mize
Gipson-Long
Wilmer Flores
Jobe
What a great move by the Tigers. On a 1 year deal, only $14 million… Detroit starting pitching is pretty stacked between Skubal, Maeda, Flaherty, Manning, Mize and Olsen.
I am a big Flaherty fan! Hope he does well in Detroit. The Tigers may be the team to beat in the AL central. With Minnesota and Cleveland both acting frugal and the White Sox a mess,they may be the team to beat. Especially with K.C.’s improvement, 85 wins may well take the division!
I must have missed where KC improved.
Lugo, Wacha, Renfroe, etc., although I guess the news didn’t drop on the Wacha and Renfroe signings until a couple of hours after your post.
Who on earth would admit to being a flaherty fan?-must be a relative.
When is Cleveland not frugal and when are they not competitive. One of the best ran organizations in baseball in by far the worst division. For all these fans that want to fix baseball with a salary cap and equal playing field there’s no bigger advantage in the sport to playing in a god awful division for 2 decades plus.
Absolutely.! Cleveland (76-86) success over last 10 years tied directly to Division ineptitude. They miss those 18-1 season series with more balanced schedule.
Not disappointed but it would be better if he was a lefty.
Lefties in the rotation are highly overrated. There have been plenty of strong teams making the playoffs over the years with all right-handed rotations, for example the 2004 Cardinals who won 105 games and the NL Pennant.
Next move… go get Cronenworth and have him play third. Have Padres kick in cash. We can have another player development test for the hitting department
Yeah the padres who are shedding salary are going to be kicking in cash. If they trade him they’ll take a lesser return from someone else if they take the entire contract
This makes the Mahle signing seem cheap.
Good move by Flaherty. The ALC offenses are rather challenged. Anyone who goes this route on 1yr deal with misleadingly strong results can turn it into a huge FA deal in 2025.
While the offenses in the Central seem weaker, teams can’t rely on the imbalanced schedule anymore. Gotta face everybody now.
Still plenty unbalanced – 13/Central, 6or7/E&W, 3/NL team. Fortunately for The Tigers, they had the best in-division record last year.
@deGrom
Yeah, except that Flaherty will be pitching, and Mahle is already injured and can’t pitch.
Another starter off the board. Pirates seem to be getting scraps again. Tellez and a minor league contract so far. Nothing to be excited about. Makes you wonder if no FA wants to come to Pittsburgh. I don’t blame them really. Morale is very low for this organization
Well you just got Billy McKinney from the Yankees so that should help morale 😉
He was great in Deliverance.
Plenty of starters left.
Manea or Montas are next up with potential to be good if they stay healthy. Other than that, Montgomory will not happen, Wacha will demand more money than this, not looking promising.
Perez Ryu VV Hill and trade options.
Is that what 14 million dollars buys you these days? MLB is in trouble.
Flaherty and Maeda are coming here because of Fetter’s. He fixes guys like these and makes them money, lol. I think both will help out the Tigers and allow the younger guts to develope or go the pen. Love these two signings.
I wish Jack well. I am suspicious of all parts Cards staff as a Cardinals fan. Lots of bad luck.
Maeda doesn’t need fixing. Just needs to stay healthy.
Flaherty’s agent is great at his/her job for landing this dollar amount.
This website predicted a 3 year, 40MM contract.
Don’t rub it in that they were off by 2 seasons. That’s not nice.
Do you think this means they might trade from their younger pitching group for another bat?
They should ship Manning out. He is fragile and Olsen looked good last year. Mize and Gipson-Long can split time in the 5th spot.
Likely never happen but I’d love them to package Manning with others and kick the tires on Arozerena. Trading with TB can be dicey as we know though.
The Locked on Tigers guy has been predicting that we’d acquire another starter and then trade Manning or Flores (possibly with Baddoo) for a bat.
Lol in what world does Matt Manning get you Randy Arozerena?!
Manning in a package. Read the post.
I like Arozerena also, but they don’t need another OF. It will probably take Olsen, as the main piece, but an IF from Cincinnati (Not India) or Baltimore would be nice.
In what world does Perpiot get you Glasnow?
Fragile? Guy took 2 100mph+ line drives off the foot. Unlucky more like it
I could see them package Manning & Baddoo for something.
Screw the White Sox. They have the added benefit of Jack Flaherty’s mentor and pitching coach Ethan Katz and he still signs with the division rival Tigers for a ‘minimal’ pillow contract. You suck Jerry!
Maybe Flaherty didn’t want to play in Nashville…
Ha-ha! As a city, Nashville probably appeals to more Americans than Detroit does. That said, I’d rather live in Michigan than Tennessee.
It matters not. If the White Sox move it’s far more likely to be in Chicago’s South Loop or a suburb like Lisle or Arlington Heights. MLB is not the NFL where a team can just pack up and leave. By then, Jack Flaherty will be pitching on his second or third free agent contract and perhaps even be retired.
Nashville is going to an expansion franchise, mlb isn’t letting any team move there because the expansion fee for Nashville for every owner is going to be significant.
How much of his salary is deferred?, maybe 13 million? Just askin
I did not expect this. This apparently means that Mize or Olson won’t be in the starting rotation when the season starts.
Why? Skubal-Olson-Maeda-Manning-Flaherty-Mize. With Mize innings watched closely early on, Maeda best served staying around the 140 IP range, and the injury history of the starting staff in general I foresee a 6 man rotation once May begins and the multiple off-days of April are over with (with Skubal still probably going on normal 4 day rest, however)
Hinch avoided using a six man rotation in past seasons even when it was clear that nobody was going to pitch more than 150 innings. No reason to expect him to use a six man rotation now.
Tigers used 6-man at two different points last year and three different points in 2022
Mize is not a starting pitcher. Avila sold you on that dream.
Mize is supposed to be on a limited innings count…Wouldn’t be surprised to see then deal a young starter for a bat if a deal comes their way…
Maybe Tigers can land Justin Turner on a 2 year deal and maybe JD as cheap as he played for LA. It would still leave an open space for Colt at 2B. Heck maybe trade for Adames to push Javy to bench, central can be won if we try.
You had me at push Javy to the bench! I want to see what Malloy has at DH though.
Justin Turner would make more sense if he could still play an above-average 3B and would settle for a one-year deal..
But he can’t play even an average 3B on a regular basis anymore. Why do you think he chose to sign as a DH in Boston?
Agreed. I am not in favor of signing Turner.
Does the Tigers go after his high school teammate Lucas Giolito too?
What a difference a year makes. The Tigers are signing some nice players and everyone is healthy. No Boyd and the staff has moved on from E rod and Lorenzen. The Tigers dodged the Candy at third bullet thanks to the Reds. Bullpen is bolstered. Ten weeks they’ll be back out there as this year is flying by.
If the Tigers play like they did in the second half last year they are a playoff team. They have the players to move up or down. No more riding guys like Maton hoping he’ll come around Having tough choices to make leaving spring training will be great. Sure the Dodgers seem like the old Harlem Globetrotters style of team now, but hey this Tiger team is pretty exciting for around here. GO GET EM TIGERS !
Pirates: Cheap Nutting …
It’s an okay signing, but as Tiger fan, it feels like we’re shopping at TJ Maxx, while the other teams are shopping at Neiman Marcus. I know we need to let the young talent develop, but we’ve been in a rebuild since 2015. Maybe we can catch lighting in a bottle like Arizona did. ♂️
Yep, now all AZ needs is reliable innings, so they signed…E-ROD!!!!
They already spent too early/poorly and then players were slow to develop and/or got hurt. These really are the type of moves that make sense until they can figure out what they have and what holes they really need to fill. Otherwise you end up like the White Sox where you have a decent team with some glaring holes and no money to plug them.
Gotta give the impression/illusion we’re actually trying or doing something. Canha is garbage, Maeda is garbage, and Flahety is garbage. At least it only cost us 10’s of millions for busy work garbage signings, better go run out there and buy you a hot n ready!
Again-stick to rumors. The website was good then. Your analysis is continually awful. Flaherty never REMOTELY looked like an ace. Conman maybe-he just fleeced Detroit for $14 million.
4.7 fWAR @ age 23…you see plenty of people on here that’d call a guy like that an ace or future ace.
Tigers to win the AL central +2000 hammer it now I’m telling you!!!
Holy Moley.
Remember when Dombrowski paid Scherzer $11M instead of the 15 ask in arbitration?
Insane.
Stats look funny…is he injured?
A contract with no advantages for the team. ie options.
How about Anderson and Merrifield?
And Manaea and Cleavinger…..
And Gio?
Urias?
Cromulent. Tiger fans deserve more than cromulent actions from the front office. This season, like last, there are many opportunities to be had. Tiger fo refuses to pursue because they lack aggression and have no urgency to build a winner.
Thier talk is all PALAVER.
Hire the SUPERFIFE.
WE WANT A WINNER AND WE WANT IT NOW.
I feel this move is a sign that one of our young pitchers will be traded for a bat. JMO, but I feel Olson or Manning may be moving.
Wow! I now have two picks right. in the MLBTR 2023-24 Free Agent Prediction Contest.
I think this is good gamble by Detroit. Flaherty could realistically be solid, average SP if healthy all season. Obviously he could be above or below due to injury BUT that is risk with everyone. Maeda good risk too. E.Rodriguez signing was solid, then he had mysterious ailment that devalued it. Now, he gone.
AZ upped for 4 yrs with ERod even after some bizarre behaviors including turning down LA. That move was applauded. Every move is a gamble.
Was hoping the Braves would go grab him, would have been a solid 1 year deal guy.
Happy he’s out of St. Louis. The fanbase treated him like garbage the entire time he was there. Hope he ends up being a stud in Detroit
I am stunned by the number of posters here who ASSUME Casey Mize will be in the Tigers’ rotation to start the season……..the guy is coming off major surgery and hasn’t pitched in close to TWO YEARS! I HOPE I’m wrong, but I am predicting it will take all or most of the season before he comes around to being useful.
Let’s see how he looks in spring training………GO TIGERS!!
In Petzold’s recent article, it said Mize has completed TJ rehab and is now on regular workouts in Tampa until Spring Training. But it sounded like there were some issues not that long ago that were dismissed as typical TJ setbacks. IDK, though, I wasn’t left with a wealth of optimism about his progress.
I’m hoping the trend continues to show that Avila actually did a good job of recognizing talent, just not developing it, and the new regime has fixed the developmental department.
I’m not surprised it was a one year deal. I wouldn’t give this guy a multi-year deal. Flaherty cashed in despite being a bad starter. I guess age is still on his side but I am betting against this one.
I’m liking that Flaherty is betting on himself. Plus I won’t bet against Chris Fetters.
Steve Adams, you really need to learn how to use commas. “Meanwhile” has to start the sentence with one comma after it. You can’t put it in the middle with two commas.
The forum you’re looking for is grammarly.com
So after checking stats closer, this is why we signed him. In 27 starts, he had 16 games where he gave up 3 or less runs with 5 or more innings pitched. He also had 4 games where he gave up 6 runs, 7 runs twice, and 10 runs. So, the other 7 games he gave up 4 runs with 5 or more innings. If you can eliminate those 4 bad games and maybe 2 of the 4 run games, you have a very solid pitcher. Fetters is good at getting consistency from pitchers. If I had to guess, I’m looking at a 28 game starter with a sub 4.00 era next year.
Congrats to Jack for signing with a far better franchise than the cesspool in east missouri. Getting away from that mess will help his career for sure.
Jack is a stiff.
Nothing Burger with a side of Blah.
Trevor Plouffe connected both sides? What does that even mean? Wouldn’t his agent get credit for that?
Ok, good signing. Now we need a legit 2B, DH, and a third baseman…… That should at least make them a.500 team ! Go Tigers !!
2B- Colt Keith, DH- Kerry Carpenter, 3B-Vierling/Ibanez/McKinstry until JJung is ready. RGreene will probably log some DH until fully healthy and/or weather warms up, if Tigers are smart about it.
Keith & Carpenter should be fine. I’m not sure about any of the 3B we have, including JJung. I hope Kreidler gets some time there next year – if he can stay healthy and hit better. He’s the best fielding INF the Tigers have besides Baez. I could see the Tigers opening the purse strings for Alex Bregman next offseason.
Bregman would be sweet but expensive. Some articles suggest that the Tigers might shop one of their bats (Jung, Keith, Malloy) for a more experienced upgrade, but no names mentioned. I would assume that means an upgrade at 2b or 3b (a veteran like Kim from SD or Gorman/Edman from STL)? I would imagine that Keith is nearly untouchable. I’d like to see them go get a young SS if Baez plays like he did last year.
Out of the 3 guys mentioned this year for 3b I think Ibanez is their best bet. He had a nice year. If Tyler Nevin could hit anywhere near what he did in AAA he’d be an option too but I think he is an AAAA guy. Eddys Leonard does not look like he will stick at SS so I wonder if he could be another internal option if he keeps hitting.
I don’t feel comfortable with the new guys, yet. I guess. I was hoping for more “proven” players…..
The guy that played Guy Caballero and Count Floyd. Scary!
… and Sammy Maudlin, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda. SCTV ruled. .
Looks like Detroit is trying to keep pace with the Royals.
AL Central 2024
Tigers 86-76
Twins 81-81
Guardians 77-85
Royals 74-88
White Sox 63-99
Book your playoff tickets.
With the current balanced schedule the AL Central probably will not produce 2 .500 teams. The Tigers look to be the team to beat if the ball bounces their way. The Royals will win 70 to 80 games. The Tigers between 75 and 83 games. If the pitching progresses the Tigers will take the division. The Twins look like a 70 win team give or take 5 wins. They have some young offensive talent but don’t seem willing to spend to replace defections from the rotation. The White Sox are a last place team. The Guardians will have great pitching and about 3 hitters who can rake. 77 wins is what I would expect from them.I see 3 teams bunched around .500 between 75 and 83 wins. The Twins and White Sox as also rans.
Maybe you guys (the Tigers) can fix him.