After Corbin Burnes signed his $210 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, not many high-end starting pitchers remain on the free agent market. The Atlanta Braves have been very patient this winter allowing all these big paychecks to come from other teams while they play the long game.
While fans have been up in arms about Anthopoulos’ strategy, it’s clear the Braves won’t be engaging in any bidding wars anytime soon. And that’s likely what is to come for the best remaining free agent starting pitcher on the market. Jack Flaherty is coming of a renaissance 2024 season thus positioning himself for a nice payday. However, the Braves need to make sure they are not one of the teams attempting to land Flaherty’s services.
Anthopoulos should steer clear of Jack Flaherty and his worrisome home run rate
Flaherty rejuvenated his career by posting a 3.17 ERA and 3.47 FIP in just over 160 innings. Health is probably the biggest factor, but another small nugget of success came from his career high curveball usage led a 43.6 whiff%. However, the first half (and better half) was posted in the spacious pitching park out in Detroit. Once he came over to the Dodgers at the deadline he was much more middle of the road.
Jack Flaherty K’ing Judge with an 87mph Slider. pic.twitter.com/sKMnetrBjf
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 26, 2024
Flaherty was great at generating swing and miss, but his home run rate should scare the Braves away. He allowed nine homers in 55 innings out in Los Angeles including six in 22 innings during the postseason. Those home runs led to some ugly postseason numbers for Flaherty, where he owned an ERA over 6.70 in each of the three postseason series the Dodgers played in.
For someone who is going to command top of the rotation money, Flaherty doesn’t have the postseason pedigree you would want in a top pitcher. As we know, limiting the home run ball in October is vital and Flaherty doesn’t do that well enough to invest big dollars in long-term especially when you factor in his spotty track record of health and performance in recent years.
Instead of stabilizing the rotation with Flaherty, it may be best served for Atlanta to splurge on the bullpen or add a significant corner outfield bat. Sale, Schwellenbach, and Strider are a very strong unit at the top of the rotation and lengthening the lineup would probably get Anthopoulos more bang for his buck.
