GM Brian Cashman Reveals Why Yankees’ Major Trade Didn't Happen

Yankees GM Brian Cashman spoke out about why a trade for a top-tier pitcher didn't wind up happening.

Aug 23, 2023; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman talks with the media before the game between the Yankees and the Washington Nationals at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Yankees had a preliminary trade agreement in place to acquire starting pitcher Jack Flaherty from the Detroit Tigers in the hours before the 2024 trade deadline. 

But according to a July 30 report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Yankees backed out of the deal after reviewing Flaherty’s medical records. 

However, when Yankees GM Brian Cashman was asked by reporters over zoom on Wednesday about the Flaherty deal falling through, he said, "I would've brought Jack Flaherty in if I could've matched up, and I had difficulty matching up. I tried to import him, and I had trouble matching up on the values."

"I would've brought Jack Flaherty in if I could've matched up, and I had difficulty matching up. I tried to import him, and I had trouble matching up on the values."

- Brian Cashman on Jack Flaherty pic.twitter.com/ZaZOEJkMuK

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 31, 2024

“All the way to the end, I was talking to the Tigers regarding Jack Flaherty and he wound up going in a different direction," Cashman added, per The New York Post. I was certainly in it all the way to the end and would have been happy to be in a position to provide him as a choice too.”

Cashman declined to comment on whether the Yankees were concerned about Flaherty's medical reports.

The Athletic also noted that the Yankees' caution regarding medicals would likely stem from what happened with starting pitcher Frankie Montas in 2022.

For context, the Yankees acquired Montas from the Oakland Athletics at the 2022 trade deadline. While Montas was presumed to be healthy when the trade was made, he was experiencing shoulder inflammation before the deal was made and therefore wasn’t fully healthy when New York traded for him. 

Montas pitched through this shoulder inflammation for the rest of the 2022 season and went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA. He then underwent labrum surgery in February 2023, only pitched one game for the Yankees last season, and signed with the Cincinnati Reds this past offseason.

Flaherty, who has a 2.95 ERA in 106.2 innings pitched this season, was ultimately traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was his lower back that The Athletic's article cites as the source of his health concerns. His lower back, "forced him to miss a start at the beginning of July and receive two injections in a span of three weeks."

Although Flaherty producing a 1.53 ERA in 17.2 innings since returning from that missed start would suggest a clean bill of health.

While it remains to be seen whether the Yankees missing out on Flaherty will work out in their favor, many fans were expecting Cashman to make a bigger splash at the deadline.