Jack Flaherty Takes Exception with Article Discussing His Lagging Free Agency

Jack Flaherty, who won a World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, remains unsigned this offseason. An article attempting to explain why rubbed him the wrong way on Tuesday.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty (0) reacts after giving up a two-run home run in the sixth inning against the New York Yankees during game one of the 2024 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty (0) reacts after giving up a two-run home run in the sixth inning against the New York Yankees during game one of the 2024 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

With just over two weeks to go until spring training, veteran right-handed pitcher Jack Flaherty remains unsigned.

According to most people, Flaherty is one of the best players to still be unsigned at this point, especially among starting pitchers.

An article, written by Mike Petriello of MLB.com on Tuesday, attempted to look at why Flaherty doesn't have a team yet. He cited injury concerns and decreasing velocity as possible reasons why teams are hesitant to sign Flaherty, especially to a longer-term or bigger-money deal.

As a 23-year-old in 2019, Flaherty looked like a Cardinals ace-in-the-making, finishing fourth in NL Cy Young voting and putting together a close-to-legendary second half, allowing 10 earned runs in 15 starts (0.91 ERA). It didn’t last. He pitched only 154 2/3 injuries over the next three seasons due to shoulder and oblique injuries, then was healthy but ineffective in 2023, posting a 4.99 ERA between St. Louis and Baltimore.

Flaherty took exception with that paragraph, even posting about it himself on social media:

People like Mike who write articles like this and say “he threw 150 innings over the next 3 years” and just omit the fact that we played a 60 game season in 2020 where I went 27 or so days between starts really bother me.
Did I get hurt in 2021,2022 yes. But don’t put 2020 in it

To Flaherty's point, the COVID 2020 season was only 60 games, meaning there were nearly 2/3 fewer games/innings to pitch. He threw 40.1 innings that season, making nine starts. His nine starts were tied for 86th among pitchers that season, no small feat. If you extrapolated that out to a full season of data, he would have made 24 starts, which would have been a generally successful season under normal circumstances.

Flaherty has spent eight years in the big leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers. He helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 2024 following a mid-season trade.

Lifetime, he's 55-41 with a 3.63 ERA. He was 13-7 with a 3.17 ERA in 2024.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.