Trading Jack Flaherty And Bringing Him Back Is The Best Scenario For The Detroit Tigers

In 2016 a mediocre version of the New York Yankees decided to sell off pieces and traded players such as Aroldis Chapman to contenders for a 10-team playoff field. Chapman wound up going to the best of the bunch in a deal to the eventual World Series champion Chicago Cubs and then returned to the Yankees in the offseason on a five-year, $86 million deal.

Chapman’s return to the Yankees is a rarity in a player coming right back to the team who traded him and the team he signed with was starting to integrate a young core flanked by Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez that wound up becoming a surprise 91-win outfit who reached Game 7 of the ALCS.

Late Sunday night, as most of the country watched the Grammy Awards, a comparable situation but on a lesser financial scale occurred when Jack Flaherty announced he was going back to the Detroit Tigers. The deal to get Flaherty back to the Tigers was reportedly two years for $35 million with $25 million coming this season and an opt-out clause to either renegotiate with the Tigers or test free agency again.

Unlike Chapman, there was not a market for Flaherty, who was close to joining the Yankees according to reports before going to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He started 18 games with the Tigers before leading the Dodgers with 22 innings, including 5 1/3 of two-run back in Game 1 against the Yankees and the first 1 1/3 innings of the World Series clincher in the bizarre Game 5.

A few years ago, Flaherty would have entered free agency with a bigger market. He pitched to a 3.34 ERA as a rookie in 2018 with the St. Louis Cardinals and was fourth in the NL Cy Young balloting in 2019, but he was injured in 2021 and 202 and pitched to a 4.99 ERA in 2023 when he struggled as a big trade pickup for the Baltimore Orioles.

Last season, Flaherty was 7-5 with a 2.95 ERA. The Tigers were 50-53 after his final start for them and went 36-23 the rest of the way, including a 34-19 mark in the final two months.

In 2016, the Yankees were 51-48 and went 33-30 the rest of the way, though from Aug. 1 through Sept. 10, they went 24-13 to get within a game of the wild-card game. Ultimately those Yankees finished at 84-78 and five games out though if the current 12-team format existed they would have missed by two games.

While those Yankees had a young core of hitters, the Tigers have a young pitching group led by Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who was masterful all season and went 7-1 after Flaherty’s final start before the trade.

“I love Jack,” Skubal said on the Foul Territory show on Jan. 25 when he accepted his Cy Young. “He’s a hell of a talent. If there’s a guy, I want on the mound that’s not me on our team, I want him on the mound. … He has the respect of the guys in that clubhouse. I’d love to have him back.”

The Tigers also are banking on continued growth from Reese Olson, along with hoping signing Alex Cobb for $15 million pays off while also looking forward to seeing the potential of Jackson Jobe.

Bringing back Flaherty makes the Tigers among the more aggressive AL Central teams this offseason.

While the Chicago White Sox are up to 18 players with at least one game of major league experience, most of those are minor league deals. The Minnesota Twins added four players in small transactions, the Cleveland Guardians traded Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez while the Kansas City Royals added Carlos Estevez and Jonathan India to bolster an 86-win team who challenged the Yankees in the ALDS.

Flaherty is the 10th player with major league experience to join the Tigers this offseason so far but is also part of a group that includes Torres and signing veteran reliever Tommy Kahnle. It is also possible the Tigers may wind up signing Alex Bregman since they have been linked to him all offseason he was with manager A.J. Hinch in Houston.

For the Tigers, it’s the best of both worlds. They got a productive return from former Yankee prospect Trey Sweeney and signed a pitcher who liked their ballpark and pitching for them.