Former Detroit Tigers Pitcher Projected to Land Deal Just Under $100 Million
The Detroit Tigers thought that their season was over and that there was no way they would be contending for a spot in the 2024 MLB playoffs as they approached the trade deadline.
On Tuesday, July 30th, the day of the deadline, the team held a 52-56 record, sitting 13.0 games back of the Cleveland Guardians for the American League Central division lead, and 6.5 games back of the Kansas City Royals for the third Wild Card berth.
A sell-off would ensue, with the Tigers moving every veteran that was set to be a free agent this winter, including one that they signed last winter to a 1-year "show me" deal, Jack Flaherty.
After pitching to a 3.20 ERA across 368 2/3 innings in 67 games (66 starts) across the first three years of his career in the Majors, Flaherty would see his production drop off drastically, pitching to a 4.42 ERA across 299 innings in 64 games (59 starts) across the next four years.
Injuries and inconsistency plagued the starter, and Detroit was one of the only teams willing to give Flaherty a chance, signing him to a 1-year, $14 million deal.
It would prove to work wonders for the pitcher, who pitched to a 3.17 ERA across 162 innings in 28 starts, seemingly proving that he could still go every fifth day and pitch well enough to be in the middle of a contender's rotation.
Now entering free agency for the second time in as many years, Tim Britton of The Athletic has projected that Flaherty will receive a 4-year, $92 million deal, a raise of $9 million per AAV.
A lot of this projection could be attributed to recency bias, as while Flaherty did have his best season since 2019 and won a World Series in the process, he has still shown that he is consistently inconsistent to go along with his injury problems.
One only need to look at the Philadelphia Phillies signing Taijuan Walker to get a glimpse of what could be the future for whatever team lands Flaherty, a pitcher with one or two "good" seasons, while being mediocre to bad in all of the rest, and being one of the worst pitchers in the sport since signing the contract.
It will be interesting to see who is willing to gamble on Jack Flaherty this winter, and it could just pay off for whoever that team may be, I just would not count on it.
