Framber Valdez got to know the Tigers well the past two seasons, perhaps a little better than he'd like. They knocked him around in the wild card round in 2024 and sent the Astros home. They tagged him in Detroit last August and eventually made the playoffs over Houston by a tiebreaker.
Valdez would have loved to spend his entire career with the team that signed him as an amateur free agent 11 years ago out of the Dominican Republic, but when he reached free agency this winter "he was very clear on where he wanted to land," he said Wednesday through his interpreter, "and it was just a matter of waiting for that time to happen. He’s here today because of that patience."
Valdez buttoned his new jersey. He pulled on his new cap, and shook hands with Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg to a round of applause. Donning the old English D for the first time after officially signing a three-year, $115 million deal with the Tigers, Valdez said that he was drawn to Detroit by the opportunity to win and to reunite with A.J. Hinch. He "felt that this group of guys, from what he could see from afar, would be a perfect fit."
"One thing that really stands out is the competitive nature of the group," he said. "You saw it from the other side."
To help seal the deal last week, the Tigers flew Hinch to Florida to meet with Valdez one on one. Valdez came up in Houston under Hinch, well before he was the star he is today. They enjoyed reconnecting for a few hours over dinner, discussing everything from family to life to baseball. Hinch picked Valdez's brain on what he was looking for in his next team, and laid out the Tigers' roster "and what he would mean to this team if he signed here," said Hinch.
"Reuniting with him in the meeting alone was really cool for me," said Hinch. "He’s come from the bottom up. A lot of people doubted him from the signing date all the way to getting him to the big leagues, and now he’s flourished into one of the best pitchers in baseball."
Valdez is a World Series champ and two-time All-Star who leads the majors in wins over the last five seasons. He has accomplished a lot in this game. It still left a "tremendous impact" on him, he said, "for a guy of A.J.’s stature to come visit me specifically, to communicate what the culture with the Tigers is, to explain what they feel (I) can bring to the team and to explain their plan for winning in the future."
Valdez called it "inspiring" that Hinch would set aside time for him when he wasn't even yet on the team, "and one of the key factors" in his decision to join Detroit. He's also reuniting with Justin Verlander after the Tigers icon returned to the team on a one-year deal, filling out a rotation that might be the best in the bigs this season.
As Valdez met with the media Wednesday in a club on the second level of Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Verlander, Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize watched from the back of the room. So did Hinch and Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter. It filled Valdez with pride that they were all there. "A rising tide," he said, "lifts all boats."
Verlander arrived in Houston in 2017, the year before Valdez debuted. They wound up being teammates for several seasons. Valdez said he "used him as a role model" in the early stages of his career "on how to handle my time between starts and the seriousness that he takes to every start." Now their lockers are side by side in the Lakeland clubhouse.
In the Houston clubhouse, Valdez was known as "La Grasa," the Spanish word for the grease or the fat -- better yet, the dressing. It was bestowed upon him by then-Astros catcher Martin Maldonado as a nod to Valdez's flashy fashion. True to form, he arrived to his press conference Wednesday wearing gold sunglasses and explained that in his younger days with Houston "I would dress a little bit aggressively," known especially for his perfume and chains.
"In the Latin Culture that’s a guy with, like, flow," he said. "That’s the grasa."
Valdez pitches with emotion. It appeared to boil over in a controversial episode late last season after he surrendered a grand slam in a poor outing against the Yankees. On the very next pitch, Valdez seemed to deliberately cross up his catcher Cesar Salazar and drill him in the chest with a 96 mile-per-hour fastball. Both Valdez and Salazar denied that there was any intent, but it might have had an effect on the slow-moving market for Valdez this winter.
If so, it played into the Tigers' hands, who landed the best starting pitcher on the free agent market without committing beyond his age-35 season. Valdez reiterated Wednesday that it was an honest "heat-of-the-moment" mistake when his "adrenaline was going," and that he immediately apologized to Salazar in the dugout.
"Fortunately we continue to be friends," he said. "My teammates know what I’m about. I’m about competing, I’m about winning, and that’s what the Detroit public should know about me."
What Hinch knows about Valdez is this: "He brings it every five or six days and wants to pitch deep into the game. The production is there, the personality is there and his preparation is incredible. You put all that together, we’re bringing him into our clubhouse with open arms and expecting him to do his part to help us win."
Valdez is as stable as he is stingy. He's logged the second most innings and ninth most starts in the majors over the last four seasons, holding hitters to an average of .225 thanks to one of the highest ground-ball rates in the majors. His ERA over this stretch is 3.20. Each member of the Tigers' pitching staff should benefit from Valdez's reliability.
"He takes takes a huge chunk of the responsibility off of some many guys," said Hinch. "Not only does he impact the day that he pitches, he impacts the day before and the day after. It’s quality, too. It’s one thing to stay healthy and have endurance and pitch deep into games. It’s another one to be good at it. I think he solidifies what starting pitching is all about. In an era where innings are dwindling for starting pitchers, he’s certainly the opposite."
The Tigers have assembled a rotation of horses. As catcher Jake Rogers put it, "We got a bunch of ponies in the stable, getting ready to throw." Hinch talks often about the challenge of running the race for 162 games, with the stamina to stay in the saddle through October. The Tigers have come close the past two years, one pitch or one swing away from being one of the last two teams standing in the American League.
"It's a competitive team that you have to respect," said Valdez. "And now, hopefully, if I can join the team and the culture can be one of competition and winning, we can take a next step."
Another ring would go well with his chains.