Tigers fans owe Scott Harris an apology for pulling off the Jack Flaherty heist

Starting pitcher Jack Flaherty started the 2024 season with the Detroit Tigers. in 18 starts with Detroit, Flaherty went 7-5 with an impressive 2.95 ERA and struck out 194 batters across 162 innings of work. With the Tigers sitting at just 47-50 at the All-Star break, Scott Harris, Detroit's president of baseball operations decided to sell at the trade deadline.

Flaherty was sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for prospects Thayron Liranzo and Trey Sweeney. Sweeney is currently the eighth-ranked prospect in the Tigers organization. Of course, Tigers fans were upset when Flaherty was traded away and can't help but wonder what would have been if Flaherty had been available for their magical postseason push not many saw coming. However, with the way things have now played out this offseason, Tigers fans owe the front office an apology after bringing back Flaherty.

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Tigers reuniting with Flaherty proves Harris is competent

Not only were the Tigers able to acquire Flaherty, they did so at a very affordable price. Looking at other starting pitcher deals that have been completed this offseason, Flaherty was projected to either receive a long-term contract or a short-term deal with a high AAV (average annual value).

Instead, the Tigers and Flaherty agreed to a two-year deal worth $35 million with a player option in 2026. This is a much more team-friendly deal than anticipated. Of course it is very possible that Flaherty was willing to take less money to return to a place he has already had success but Scott Harris still deserves a tip of the cap.

In a time frame of 14 short months, Flaherty has signed with the Tigers, been traded away and then signed again. By this sequence of events, Harris has helped build this Detroit roster to win now and make another playoff push in 2025 while also preparing for the future.

Flaherty's contract is also been rumored to be cheap enough to allow the Tigers to aggresively pursure free agent third baseman Alex Bregman. For all of the Tigers fans that put Harris on blast when Flaherty was traded away last season, it is time to apologize.