Breaking: Yankees close in to sign Dodgers favorite player in a blockbuster deal.
Crazy stuff happens in Major League Baseball all the time.
In case you missed it, the 28-year-old right-hand pitcher Jack Flaherty was on the verge of being dealt to the New York Yankees. Almost.
At the MLB trade deadline July 30, the Detroit Tigers thought they had a deal in place with the Yankees that included Flaherty.
The Yankees decided against making the transaction because they didn’t like the medical reports they got on Flaherty.
The Yankees declined to sign Flaherty with the Detroit Tigers because of his back problems, which may have contributed to other medical troubles in the past. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who wanted to strengthen their own starting rotation, enter the picture. The Dodgers sent catcher/first baseman Thayron Liranzo, and shortstop Trey Sweeney to the Tigers for Flaherty. Both are prospects.
Jack Flaherty, 28, is a pitching major leaguer in his eighth season; the Dodgers are his fourth major league club. The St. Louis Cardinals selected Flaherty in the first round of the 2014 draft as the No. 34 player chosen out of baseball powerhouse Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, California. If he stays healthy, Flaherty will greatly help the Dodgers rotation, which is beset by massive injury issues of its own. Ehtan Katz, the pitching coach for the Chicago White Sox, was Flaherty’s high school coach.
Flaherty was a gifted athlete who played pitching, shortstop, and third base in high school. Flaherty received a $2 million signing bonus from the Cardinals. Flaherty was a great pitcher for the Cardinals when he was well. At the age of 21, Flaherty joined St. Louis in 2017 for his major league debut. Although Flaherty pitched admirably for St. Louis, he was limited by oblique and shoulder ailments.
He was striking out a career-high 11.2 batters per nine innings while walking 1.6 batters on average. The only blemish on his record was the 15 home runs that he allowed. According to brooksbaseball.net, Flaherty was throwing his four-seam fastball at 93 miles per hour and his infrequently utilized sinking fastball at 89 miles per hour for much of his major league career.
But Flaherty uses a devastating slider (32% of his pitches) and nasty curve (17% of his offerings) to finish off the hitter.
Flaherty’s four-seam fastball does an excellent job of setting up his breaking pitches.
As a “rental player” with a contract that is about to expire, the Dodgers are depending on Flaherty to stay healthy and lead them to victory in the postseason.
In his first Dodgers start, Flaherty delivered a brilliant six innings in the Dodgers’ 10-0 victory over Oakland.
August 9 is Flaherty’s next scheduled Dodgers start.
