Yankees Reportedly “Backed Out” Of Jack Flaherty Trade Following Medical Review

The Yankees and Tigers had a “preliminary” trade agreement in place that would’ve sent right-hander Jack Flaherty to New York prior to the trade deadline earlier today, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, but the Yankees ultimately pulled the plug on the deal after reviewing the right-hander’s medical records. It’s not clear what the Yankees would’ve traded to Detroit to acquire Flaherty had the deal gone through. The righty, of course, ended up traded to the Dodgers just before the deadline.

Flaherty, 28, was long expected to be one of the most coveted starters on the market this summer after a sensational start to the season with Detroit where he delivered a 2.95 ERA and 3.11 FIP through eighteen starts. He hasn’t been fully healthy this year, however, as he skipped a start due to back discomfort early this month. He’s looked good with a 1.53 ERA and 18 strikeouts in three starts since then, but evidently the Yankees nonetheless had concerns after reviewing his medicals. The club was rumored to be in “extensive trade talks” with the Tigers after Detroit scratched the righty from his scheduled start yesterday, but ultimately no deal came together.

It’s not necessarily a surprise that New York would be somewhat gunshy about the possibility of trading for an injured pitchers. As Rosenthal notes, the club traded for right-hander Frankie Montas in a deal with the A’s at the 2022 trade deadline despite lingering concerns about his shoulder, and Montas ended up struggling in a brief stint with the club before undergoing surgery. Given the fact that the Yankees reportedly planned to shop southpaw Nestor Cortes before the deadline in the event that they landed Flaherty, it would’ve been a substantial risk for the club to deal away an established arm to make room for a pitcher who they had some level of injury concern about. The Yankees instead focused their attention on the bullpen today, shipping out lefty Caleb Ferguson while adding righties Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos.

By contrast, the Dodgers have a deep staff of internal rotation options led by Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw with even more arms like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler expected back from the IL later this year. Given the club’s deep group of starters, it’s understandable why they’d be willing to stomach injury risk in acquiring a rental arm like Flaherty. The addition of Flaherty was paired with the addition of center fielder Kevin Kiermaier in a deal with the Blue Jays today to bolster the club’s depth after the Dodgers added Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech in a three-team trade yesterday, as well as infielder Amed Rosario in a separate deal.

According to Rosenthal, word spread around the league that the Yankees had concerns regarding Flaherty’s medicals in the run-up to the deadline, although the only other team to actually see those medicals for themselves was the Dodgers. It’s unclear to what extent other offers for Flaherty’s services were impacted by concerns coming out of the Bronx about his medicals, though it’s worth noting that Jon Heyman of the New York Post highlighted the Red Sox alongside the Dodgers and Yankees as among the teams known to have interest in Flaherty. Boston’s only established starting pitching acquisition ended up being DFA’d veteran James Paxton as they instead opted to shore up their bullpen with Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia alongside the addition of a young, unproven potential starter in Quinn Priester.