Sources: Flaherty back to Tigers on $35M deal

Right-hander Jack Flaherty and the Detroit Tigers agreed on a two-year, $35 million contract, sources told ESPN on Sunday, reuniting one of the best remaining free agents and the team with which he resurrected his career last season.

The deal, which is pending a physical, includes an opt-out after this year, in which Detroit will pay Flaherty $25 million. The second year guarantees Flaherty $10 million and can be worth $20 million if he starts at least 15 games.

In the fourth month of free agency, with the long-term-contract market for the 29-year-old Flaherty having never developed, he went back to the Tigers, who gave him $14 million last winter. The $25 million salary this year is among the 10 highest for starting pitchers in 2025.

Flaherty's numbers warranted a jump in pay. In Detroit, he started 18 games and posted a 2.95 ERA and nearly a 7-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Flaherty minutes before the trade deadline and he threw the most postseason innings of any of their pitchers en route to a World Series win.

The best of Flaherty's playoff performances with the Dodgers earned some attention around the league as he accomplished his goal last offseason: reestablish himself after injuries and ineffectiveness slowed what looked like a top-of-the-rotation track.

Flaherty had a 3.34 ERA in 151 innings as a rookie with the Cardinals in 2018 and followed with a fourth-place National League Cy Young performance when he was the best pitcher in baseball during the second half of 2019. Injuries waylaid Flaherty in 2021 and 2022, and when he returned in 2023, he was still toying with a cutter and figuring out his pitch mix.

Detroit, and Comerica Park's large dimensions, worked well for Flaherty, a flyball pitcher. Although the Tigers surged to a postseason berth after dealing Flaherty, his time with the Tigers and Dodgers was productive, lowering his regular-season ERA from 4.99 in 2023 to 3.17 over 162 innings with 194 strikeouts and 38 walks. That helped Flaherty earn a rare dual accomplishment: playoff shares from two teams.

The deal adds Flaherty to a rotation that already includes American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal as well as right-handers Reese Olson, Casey Mize and Alex Cobb, who signed a one-year, $15 million deal this winter. Detroit also has right-handers Matt Manning and Keider Montero as well as right-hander Jackson Jobe, arguably the best pitching prospect in baseball.

Other top free agent pitchers have opted for two-year deals with mixed results. Flaherty's contract guarantees him $10 million more than the one signed by Jordan Montgomery last year, but Montgomery guaranteed himself $22.5 million this year by reaching a games-started threshold. Carlos Rodon's two-year, $44 million contract with San Francisco in 2022 guaranteed more but necessitated 110 innings to opt out -- which Rodon reached before signing with the New York Yankees.