Jack Flaherty makes it clear why he chose Tigers over Cardinals: Honesty

The Detroit Tigers signed Jack Flaherty to an affordable one-year, $14 million contract this winter. Flaherty was expected to compete for a spot in the middle of the Tigers young starting rotation, adding some veteran flare to the mix.

Assuming all goes well, Flaherty can be a pitcher the Tigers rely on late in the season. He's pitched in big moments before. If Detroit's season goes south, then Flaherty becomes an expiring trade asset. This isn't a losing cause by Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris.

So far this year Flaherty was a 4.91 ERA in five starts. He'll have a little extra motivation on Tuesday as he faces his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards traded Flaherty to the Baltimore Orioles last August for prospects.

“It’s going against family,” Flaherty said, per the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “Any time you play against family, it goes back to playing high school (ball) when you played against kids you know. Same type of thing. Just a bigger stage. Played against some of my best friends in high school. You get up there, and it’s funny for a couple of seconds and then the second one of them gets a hit off you it’s like, ‘All right, (forget) this.’ Let’s go.”

St. Louis Cardinals weren't honest with Jack Flaherty after all

Flaherty was a first-round pick by the Cardinals in 2014. When he was traded last season, Flaherty claimed he would leave the door open for a reunion in St. Louis, but the Cardinals never knocked this winter. When asked why he chose Detroit over pursuing a St. Louis return more heavily, Flaherty didn't blink.

“Conversation. Effort. Honesty,” Flaherty said. “They believed in me the most."

Flaherty was frustrated with how his final season in St. Louis went. Frankly, he hasn't pitched at an All-Star caliber level since 2021, when he was 25 years old. Now with Detroit, Flaherty is hoping to recapture some of that magic which made the Cardinals believe in him in the first place.

“I just had to be given a chance, and that is what I was hoping for,” Flaherty said. “Detroit gave me the opportunity to go out and prove myself (by) going out and helping a team win.”

Despite making some marginal changes in his approach this winter, Flaherty is primarily the same pitcher the Cardinals traded last winter, which made it all the more strange that they didn't seem interested in bring him back at a lower-than-expected price tag, per Derrick Goold.

In the end, perhaps it will be Flaherty with the last laugh after all.