Flaherty, Tigers reach 1-year deal, sources say

Right-hander Jack Flaherty and the Tigers are in agreement on a one-year, $14 million contract, sources told ESPN on Thursday, bringing another veteran arm to a Detroit team that’s hoping to contend in the AL Central next season.

The deal can max out at $15 million, with start-based bonuses of $250,000 for the 26th, $250,000 for the 28th and $500,000 for the 30th, sources said.

The 28-year-old Flaherty is coming off his most productive season in four years, logging 144.1 innings with a 4.99 ERA and 148 strikeouts between the St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Orioles after injuries hampered his previous three years. He hopes a move to Detroit will reinvigorate a career that looked destined for excellence in 2019, when he had what was widely considered to be a breakout season — in 33 starts for the Cardinals, the former first-round pick generated a 2.75 ERA, allowing only 135 hits in 196 1/3 innings and racking up 231 strikeouts.

Because of his remarkable athleticism — he was a third baseman as an amateur player, before he was drafted 34th overall by St. Louis in 2014 — rival evaluators assumed that he would build on that initial success and perhaps develop into one of the NL’s most dominant pitchers.

But those expectations were seemingly derailed during the COVID season of 2020. Early in the 60-game season, while the Cardinals were quarantined because of an outbreak, Flaherty got attention for throwing into a mattress in his room during that time. No one will ever know for sure whether Flaherty’s subsequent shoulder trouble was related to the unusual training situation, but injuries began to derail his seeming rise to stardom.

He made just nine starts in 2020, made only 26 appearances in 2021 and 2022, and his performance waned. With his velocity diminished in the early stages of 2023, Flaherty had a 4.43 ERA in 20 starts with the Cardinals, and with St. Louis out of contention, he was dealt to the Orioles and continued to struggle. Flaherty posted a 6.75 ERA in nine appearances with Baltimore. When the Orioles made the playoffs, Flaherty was shifted to a bullpen role.

The Tigers are betting on the 2019 version of Flaherty joining fellow free agent signing Kenta Maeda and incumbent starters Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson and Matt Manning in a rotation that also could have former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize, who is returning from Tommy John surgery.

The Tigers finished in second place in the AL Central at 78-84 last season, and with the ownership of the first-place Minnesota Twins cutting payroll, Detroit is targeting its first postseason bid since 2014.

The question that will hover over Flaherty as he moves forward is whether he can recover some of the excellence he showed early in his time with the Cardinals. The short-term nature of his new deal means that Flaherty has a chance to rebuild his value before testing the market again at a relatively young age.

He has had moments — particular starts, like in back-to-back scoreless starts against the New York Mets and Miami Marlins in July — in which he has demonstrated that he is still capable of overpowering hitters.

ESPN’s Buster Olney contributed to this report.