Chicago Cubs: Detroit Tigers steal away high quality starter from the Cubs

The Chicago Cubs could still look to add another starting pitcher and reliever to their bullpen after having an impressive offseason so far.

The Cubs have money to spend while being significantly under the first threshold of the CBA before they hit any penalties.

The Cubs were in the market for starting pitcher Jack Flaherty who would’ve given them a solid number option in the rotation. However, Flaherty was seeking a deal over five years and that was too rich for the Cubs to commit to.

Now it seems like Flaherty shifted his tone by fully committing to taking a short-term deal with a high AAV, which he previously was reported to consider taking.

Tigers steal away Chicago Cubs’ top target

The Tigers are signing Flaherty per the New York Post Jon Heyman to a two-year deal with an opt-out after the first year worth a total of $35 million. For the first year of the deal, Flaherty will receive $25 million, plus salary bonuses.

“Jack Flaherty to Tigers, $35M/2 years. Opt-out.“

Jack Flaherty to Tigers, $35M/2 years. Opt out.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 3, 2025

“Flaherty gets $25M in 2025 in salary and bonus“

Flaherty gets $25M in 2025 in salary and bonus https://t.co/vIteS3Fq02

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 3, 2025

Flaherty would’ve been great for the Cubs

Having Flaherty be the number two in the rotation behind Shota Imanaga and front of Justin Steele would’ve been a great 1-3 to have for a rotation. The 29-year-old Flaherty was impressive last season for both the Tigers and the Los Angeles Dodgers where he won the World Series.

The Cubs were all too familiar with Flaherty who pitched for their divisional rival the St. Louis Cardinals for seven years (2017-2022). Flaherty had a solid 2024 season which started with him signing a one-year deal with the Tigers who at last year’s trade deadline shipped him over to the Los Angeles Dodgers where he ended his season winning the 2024 World Series. Overall, in 2024 between both the Tigers and the Dodgers Flaherty made 28 starts posting a record of 13-7 with a very respectable 3.17 ERA, having just six strikeouts shy of a 200-strikeout season (194), a WHIP of 1.068, in a total of 162.0 innings of work.

When you look further into Flaherty’s season, he was better than his numbers led on, even though his overall numbers are very respectable. Looking at his Baseball Savant page he does rank in a lot of areas that show his excellence as a pitcher. He was in the 98th percentile for his breaking run value (12), as well as being in both the 90th and 91st percentile for whiff percentage (32.1%), and K percentage (29.9%), which is why Flaherty also had a strikeout per nine rate of 10.8 in 2024 and shows he is still able to miss bats.

Flaherty has shown he is still a high-quality Major League pitcher and should have commanded the five-year deal he was seeking. However, the market for this offseason did not dictate that.

Flaherty ends up where he belongs

Flaherty began the year with the Tigers last season after dealing with the same problems he did this year.

The Tigers ended up trading Flaherty at the deadline last season when they had no chance of making the postseason until they made their magical run.

If the Tigers had Flaherty for the whole year and into the postseason there’s no telling how their season could have ended.

Getting Flaherty back gives the Tigers a solid 1-2 punch with Tarik Skubal being the Ace of their staff. After getting a taste of winning last season and having a proven winner in Flaherty join the team the Tigers make them a scary team coming into this season.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-loose-out-on-another-free-agent?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chicago-cubs-loose-out-on-another-free-agent