Full disclosure: I’m not into the hot stove season as much as most fans.
Most of it is folks talking just for the sake of talking and almost all of it is nonsense. Specifically with the Yankees, primarily due to the fact we all need to consider Hal Steinbrenner’s trust fund when building a theoretical roster, there’s not too much to seriously consider until Juan Soto chooses a home.
Yet as I’ve said for years now, the rotation needs to be improved. Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes and Luis Gil were comically lucky last year and even with the benefit of pitching with four leaf clovers in their pockets for most of the season, the results were still up and down.
As I write this, Roki Sasaki is out there and he’s quite obviously the best pitcher available. Given Steinbrenner’s and Brian Cashman’s proclivity for half measures over the past five years or so, Sasaki seems unlikely, however.
Due to all the above, count me in on Jack Flaherty – he’s a bad dude and most MLB fans and teams are sleeping on him.
According to the smart folks at FanGraphs, Flaherty will cost far less than Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell recently earned, and than Max Fried is about to get. More importantly, unlike those three, Flaherty isn’t on the wrong side of 30 yet, and he’s coming off arguably his best season.
Flaherty was dominant for Detroit in the first half of 2024 and was good for the Dodgers down the stretch. He had been inconsistent for a few years mostly due to injuries, but he threw 162 innings in 2024 and posted career bests in xFIP, K%, K-BB%, and chase rate. Of note, his fastball velocity was where it’s always been so between that and the IP, injury concerns with him aren’t any greater than with any other free agent pitcher.
Also worth noting is that he, unlike most Yankees starters, was on the wrong side of the HR/FB ratio gods in 2024, so one could argue his luck will change for the better in ’25.
Bottom line: Among all starting pitchers across MLB in 2024, only three – Chris Sale, Sonny Gray, and Tarik Skubal – posted better xFIP than Jack Flaherty. Given he’s available for possibly a sub $100 million contract (loose sofa change numbers for Silver Spoons Hal), it seems like a no brainer to me.
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Have you checked out: The Game 7 series? I just recently watched the Aaron Boone ending the ALCS in ’03 episode which brought back a lot of great memories.
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