Once seen as one of the premier young pitching talents in the sport, Jack Flaherty approached his first foray into free agency looking to reshape his value. Flaherty is now in agreement with the Detroit Tigers on a two-year deal worth $35 million, a league source told The Athletic on Sunday.
The contract will pay him $25 million — a top 10 salary for starting pitchers —in 2025, with a $10 million player option for 2026. The option could increase to $20 million in the second year if he makes at least 15 starts in 2025, giving him the potential to earn $45 million over two seasons.
Flaherty was ranked as the No. 10 free agent on The Athletic’s Free Agent Big Board, a byproduct not just of a bounce-back season but of being the best starter (not named Roki Sasaki) available in free agency who had not yet seen his 30th birthday. Unlike Corbin Burnes or Max Fried, he also did not have a qualifying offer attached to him. The Athletic’s Tim Britton projected that Flaherty would receive a four-year, $92 million deal ahead of the offseason.
For the 29-year-old Flaherty, it’s a payday that seemed likely from his time as an ascendant young starter with the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he earned Cy Young Award votes by the time he was 23 years old. Injuries and poor performance steered his career in a different direction, causing him to take a one-year deal worth $14 million last winter with the Tigers. It was with Detroit that Flaherty rediscovered his old form. His mechanics were more streamlined. He found more consistency with his fastball velocity, and he got strikeouts at the same rate at his St. Louis peak.
At the trade deadline, Flaherty was the best starting pitcher to change teams. He went to his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers.
Over 28 starts with the two clubs, Flaherty had a 3.17 ERA and threw 162 innings, his most since his breakout year in 2019. He twice earned Game 1 starts for the Dodgers during their eventual World Series run, turning in dominant performances each time.
During the Dodgers’ World Series parade, Flaherty imbibed atop a double-decker bus and spoke with awe. The Burbank, Calif., native had just won a World Series for a team he watched in the reserve level of Dodger Stadium for countless nights as a child. He repeated three times, “I never want to leave.”
Last season still featured some question marks. An agreement with the New York Yankees on a trade at the deadline was scuttled due to concerns about Flaherty’s back, which twice required injections in June. While Flaherty insisted he was healthy during the Dodgers’ stretch run, his fastball velocity faded in September. Even when the velocity returned in October, Flaherty’s strong early-series starts on extra rest were leveled out when he got bombarded when he faced a team a second time on regular rest. In those two potential series-clinching starts against the New York Mets and Yankees, Flaherty lasted a combined 4 1/3 innings and allowed 12 runs.
It still did little to sour a strong payday for a starter who has shown feel for how to miss bats and an ability to adapt his stuff to a situation.
(Photo of Flaherty: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
