Former Detroit Tigers Star Calls Jack Flaherty Great Pick Up For Franchise
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The Detroit Tigers have brought back pitcher Jack Flaherty after moving him to the Los Angeles Dodgers at last year's trade deadline. Flaherty returns on a two-year deal with a World Series ring on his resume.
Flaherty signed with Detroit last season, where he pitched well going 7-5 with a 2.95 ERA and a 2.4 WAR over 18 starts. If Flaherty continued at that pace he could have roughly matched his best season back in 2019, where he finished with a 2.75 ERA with a 5.9 WAR for the St. Louis Cardinals.
For the Dodgers, Flaherty went 6-2 with a 3.58 ERA and a .7 WAR over 10 starts. More importantly, he started the first game of the National League Championship Series and World Series for Los Angeles.
The Dodgers endured a number of pitching injuries last season, creating a void Flaherty helped fill. Collectively, Flaherty is coming off the second-most productive campaign of his eight-year career. Flaherty will turn 30 years old in October, which means he could still be pitching at his peak over the next two years for the Tigers.
Three-time All Star first baseman Sean Casey spent two of his 13 MLB seasons with the Tigers. He weighed in on Flaherty's return to Detroit on his Mayor's Office podcast.
Casey called it a "Great pick up that makes sense." Casey and his co-host Rich Ciancimino then talked about how Flaherty's midseason trade to the Dodgers was the rare move that worked for both teams.
As a player that had nearly 700 at-bats with Detroit, Casey went on to discuss how Comerica Park is a much different experience between pitchers and hitters. Casey called Comerica "A great park to pitch in and a terrible park to hit in."
Casey then went on to tell a story of how his former manager Jim Leyland complained that Casey only hit four home runs for him back in 2007. Casey was never known as a premium home run hitter, but he did hit at least 20 homers in three of his 13 seasons.
Casey's stance on the Tigers' homefield correlates with the success Flaherty had as a Tiger last season. That's especially encouraging as Flaherty had a rough nine-game run after getting traded to the Baltimore Orioles at the deadline in 2023. He got back on track in Detroit last year.
When a former All Star like Casey views a move like this as a good fit for a Tigers team that won 86 game last season, it's nothing but a positive.
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Ryan Reynolds has worked in sports media since 2019, where he’s primarily covered the NFL. He got his start writing for Evan Silva and Adam Levitan’s Establish the Run where Ryan became an authority on NFL awards markets. Ryan recently served as an Associate Director and content headliner for former NFL executives Joe Banner and Mike Tannenbaum at The 33rd Team. Ryan has also made multiple guest appearances on Fantasy Sports Radio on SiriusXM and VSiN. Outside of sports Ryan has a bachelor’s degree in accounting, graduating with honors from the University of Minnesota. He now has nearly a decade’s worth of experience in management. You can find Ryan on X @RyanReynoldsNFL or email him at RyanReynoldsNFL@gmail.com.