The Tigers wanted to keep Jack Flaherty as badly as Flaherty wanted to stay. The pitcher and the organization were rebounding as one. But when the trade deadline arrived last summer and the Dodgers offered Trey Sweeney and Thayron Liranzo -- "what we believe is an everyday shortstop for his entire team-control years plus a potential impact, switch-hitting catcher who’s now a top-100 prospect," in the words of Scott Harris -- for two months of Flaherty, the Tigers couldn't say no.
"Staring at that," Harris said Friday, "it was a move we had to do."
Little did Harris know, Flaherty would return six months later. The 29-year-old pitcher has officially signed a two-year, $35 million deal with the Tigers after reestablishing himself as a top-flight arm in Detroit. It's essentially a one-year, $25 million agreement that will allow Flaherty to re-enter free agency next offseason if he so chooses.
It's a win for the Tigers in more ways than one. Most immediately, Flaherty strengthens an already solid rotation by reuniting at the top with Tarik Skubal. With a wealth of other talented young arms, the Tigers boast the pitching staff to not only return to the playoffs but seriously challenge for the AL Central.
In the simplest terms, "our pitching staff is a lot better today than yesterday because we have Jack Flaherty as part of it," said Harris. Flaherty posted a 2.95 ERA and one of the best strikeout-to-walk ratios in the majors in 18 starts last season for the Tigers. All Skubal did was win the AL pitching Triple Crown.
From a broader perspective, Flaherty's return is evidence that the Tigers are becoming a desirable destination for players who A) want to improve and B) want to win. This has always been a main tenet of Harris' plan as president of baseball operations in Detroit, "to make this place a place that players want to play." He called it "a huge step forward for this organization to have a player of Jack’s caliber be so outspoken about wanting to come back."
"He had no connection to Detroit before last year," Harris said. "But he really enjoyed his time here and he wanted to come back, and I think that’s a huge compliment to everyone who worked really hard behind the scenes to make his experience a good one. We’re thrilled to have Jack back."
Flaherty's numbers dipped a bit with the Dodgers, notably in the strikeouts-to-walks column. His fastball velocity was down. He still posted a 3.58 ERA in 10 regular season starts for LA and then helped the club win the World Series. From afar, Harris said he "noticed that his mechanics started to change a little bit down the stretch" and that "his arm action was a little more abbreviated in the playoffs. The Tigers aren't worried.
"One thing that’s true about Jack is that he’s a freak athlete," Harris said. "He makes adjustments so quickly. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue for us at all. We’ve already started working on it with him, and we expect him to be his old self when he gets to Lakeland next week."
Nor do the Tigers have any concerns about the back soreness that sidelined Flaherty for a couple starts last summer. It was enough of a concern for the Yankees that they reportedly backed out of an agreed-upon trade for Flaherty, who had received two back injections in the month prior, "but I said publicly, on the record, that he was healthy going into the trade deadline," said Harris.
"The Dodgers viewed him as healthy, he was healthy all the way down the stretch, and he’s healthy right now," Harris said. "I don’t really know where that came from."
Spring training starts this month. Pitchers and catchers for the Tigers report next week. When they arrive in Lakeland, it will represent "the most depth that we’ve had as a pitching staff since I’ve been here," said Harris. "And the one thing I know for sure is, we’re going to need all of it."
If Skubal and Flaherty throw punches like last year, the Tigers will like their chances in the AL Central. And Flaherty will like his chances of securing an even bigger payday next winter. If he falls victim to an injury or regression, he has a $10 million option as insurance -- $20 million if he makes at least 15 starts this season.
"He wants to get back to free agency, if he can, coming off a big year," Harris said. "One of the reasons that he came here is because he believes this staff and this environment brings the best out of him, so he’s betting on himself again. He bet on himself last year and he was one of the better starters in all of baseball, and he believes coming back here that he can put up another monster year."
The Tigers' pitching department led by Chris Fetter gets a lot of credit for Flaherty's bounce-back in 2024. They armed him with a plan, "and then Jack deserves all the credit for executing on it and turning himself into the pitcher that he is today," said Harris.
"We want to continue to do that," he said. "We don’t have it all figured out right now, but we are definitely headed in the right direction and we're really proud of what this episode illustrates about our organization."