Departures from Max Fried and Charlie Morton (potentially) have weakened the Atlanta Braves pitching staff. But the Braves could partially fill the void and weaken a National League rival by targeting right-handed pitcher Jack Flaherty.
The Athletic’s Jim Bowden suggested on Dec. 17 that the Braves should sign Flaherty in MLB free agency.
“Flaherty would be a nice addition to their rotation if his medical reports check out. (The Yankees backed out of a preliminary trade agreement with the Tigers for Flaherty at the trade deadlineafter reviewing the righty’s medicals,)” Bowden wrote. “Flaherty was considered by many as the Dodgers’ best starting pitcher when the postseason began. He went 13-7 last season with the Tigersand Dodgers, posting a 3.17 ERA and 1.068 WHIP over 28 starts, with 194 strikeouts in 162 innings.
“I’m not sure what the contract terms should look like because the length will depend on the medical reports and exams, but Flaherty would be a nice pivot for the Braves.”
Flaherty had a couple rough outings in the postseason, giving up 8 runs in Game 5 of the NLCS and 4 runs in only 1.1 innings of Game 5 during the World Series. But Flaherty also started Game 1 in each of those series. The Dodgers won both of those Game 1’s.
In the opening game of the NLCS, Flaherty threw 7 shutout innings and gave up just 2 hits.
Pitching for the Dodgers and Detroit Tigers during the regular season, Flaherty went 13-7 with a 3.17 ERA. He had a 2.95 ERA with a 0.956 WHIP in 18 starts with the Tigers to begin the season.
Flaherty might not be the ideal choice to replace Fried because of his medical reports. There will be risk to giving the right-hander, who has earned about $32.1 million over his seven-year MLB career, a big contract.
But a lot of the top pitching options are already off the free agent or trade market this offseason. Flaherty comes with risk but a lot of reward too if he’s healthy.
He has recorded a season with a sub-3.50 ERA four times since the start of 2018. In 2019, he led the NL with a 0.968 WHIP and had a league-low 6.2 hits per nine innings average.
Spotrac projected Flaherty to be worth roughly $63.2 million on a 3-year deal this offseason. That would pay the right-hander about $21.1 million per season.
