The Yankees and Tigers had a “preliminary” commerce settlement in place that may’ve despatched right-hander Jack Flaherty to New York previous to the commerce deadline earlier immediately, in keeping with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, however the Yankees in the end pulled the plug on the deal after reviewing the right-hander’s medical data. It’s not clear what the Yankees would’ve traded to Detroit to amass Flaherty had the deal gone by way of. The righty, after all, ended up traded to the Dodgers simply earlier than the deadline.
Flaherty, 28, was lengthy anticipated to be one of the coveted starters available on the market this summer season after a sensational begin to the season with Detroit the place he delivered a 2.95 ERA and three.11 FIP by way of eighteen begins. He hasn’t been absolutely wholesome this 12 months, nevertheless, as he skipped a begin attributable to again discomfort early this month. He’s seemed good with a 1.53 ERA and 18 strikeouts in three begins since then, however evidently the Yankees nonetheless had considerations after reviewing his medicals. The membership was rumored to be in “in depth commerce talks” with the Tigers after Detroit scratched the righty from his scheduled begin yesterday, however in the end no deal got here collectively.
It’s not essentially a shock that New York could be considerably gunshy about the opportunity of buying and selling for an injured pitchers. As Rosenthal notes, the membership traded for right-hander Frankie Montas in a take care of the A’s on the 2022 commerce deadline regardless of lingering considerations about his shoulder, and Montas ended up struggling in a quick stint with the membership earlier than present process surgical procedure. Given the truth that the Yankees reportedly deliberate to buy southpaw Nestor Cortes earlier than the deadline within the occasion that they landed Flaherty, it will’ve been a considerable threat for the membership to deal away a longtime arm to make room for a pitcher who they’d some stage of harm concern about. The Yankees as an alternative targeted their consideration on the bullpen immediately, delivery out lefty Caleb Ferguson whereas including righties Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos.
Against this, the Dodgers have a deep employees of inner rotation choices led by Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw with much more arms like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler anticipated again from the IL later this 12 months. Given the membership’s deep group of starters, it’s comprehensible why they’d be prepared to abdomen harm threat in buying a rental arm like Flaherty. The addition of Flaherty was paired with the addition of heart fielder Kevin Kiermaier in a take care of the Blue Jays immediately to bolster the membership’s depth after the Dodgers added Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech in a three-team commerce yesterday, in addition to infielder Amed Rosario in a separate deal.
In response to Rosenthal, phrase unfold across the league that the Yankees had considerations relating to Flaherty’s medicals within the run-up to the deadline, though the one different workforce to really see these medicals for themselves was the Dodgers. It’s unclear to what extent different gives for Flaherty’s companies have been impacted by considerations popping out of the Bronx about his medicals, although it’s value noting that Jon Heyman of the New York Put up highlighted the Purple Sox alongside the Dodgers and Yankees as among the many groups identified to have curiosity in Flaherty. Boston’s solely established beginning pitching acquisition ended up being DFA’d veteran James Paxton as they as an alternative opted to shore up their bullpen with Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia alongside the addition of a younger, unproven potential starter in Quinn Priester.
