The Cardinals have proven in recent seasons that you really can go home again.
There probably will never be another homecoming as happy as Albert Pujols’ reunion in 2022. Some swore we would never see it. Wrong.
After Pujols retired, many would have moved Lance Lynn from second to first on the list of ex-Cards most likely to never wear the uniform again. Wrong again.
Who knows, maybe ex-Cards outfielder Tommy Pham can help fill the Cardinals’ trade-deadline desire of improving their right-handed hitting options.
Reunions do seem to be becoming a theme, and I’m not just saying that because the 1964 and 2004 teams were honored at Busch Stadium on Friday night.
So, I won’t say it’s impossible that the Cardinals could continue longtime president of baseball operations John Mozeliak’s newfound trend by bringing back Jack Flaherty before Tuesday’s trade deadline, but I’m having a pretty hard time seeing it as a very realistic possibility. Especially compared to all of the sports radio and social media conversation the hypothetical has created.
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Yes, I’m aware of what Flaherty has accomplished in Detroit this season. Good for him. He bet on himself and won the bet.
He’s made himself the best true rental starting pitcher available in a pitcher-desperate market. He may be the best starting pitcher still available, period. The 28-year-old right-hander turned his one-year, $14 million deal with Detroit into a potential launching pad to the free agency he can have this offseason — especially if he joins a new team at the deadline and helps power that team into and through the postseason.
Flaherty has a wicked 2.95 ERA. He’s crammed 133 strikeouts into 106.2 innings. He’s only walked 19. It’s a shame the Tigers are living on the wrong side of .500 despite Flaherty’s domination.
The Cardinals are among the teams hungry for improved starting pitching. They could really use an impressive arm to slot behind Sonny Gray and ahead other members of this veteran staff. It’s not surprising to see the Flaherty what-if percolate. Here’s why I don’t see the dots connecting in reality.
Flaherty’s final season with the Cardinals wasn’t worthy of reality TV drama, but it didn’t go smoothly. He made public comments that were perceived to be negative toward then still-new catcher Willson Contreras’ pitch-calling and game-planning. He declined to clear up those opportunities — until after he was looking for a new team as a free agent this past offseason. Contreras took the comments in stride and did not make a big deal about them, but things like that don’t get forgotten, and now Contreras is one of the team’s faces. The catcher also wasn’t the only one Flaherty rubbed the wrong way at times toward the end. This could be a trickier clubhouse addition than some realize. Impossible? No. Easy? Also no.
Flaherty’s first impression as a rental flopped. He went from a 4.43 ERA in ºüÀêÊÓƵ to a 6.75 ERA in Baltimore. After a strong first Orioles impression, he regressed until he was moved into the Orioles’ bullpen. He didn’t make a single start in Baltimore’s American League Division Series. His last postseason start came in 2020. If you want your rental to have fresh postseason seasoning, Flaherty’s not it.
Second-half performance and durability concerns about Flaherty are fair. His 27 starts last season marked the most he’s made since 33 back in 2019, before there were annual worries about his shoulder. He’s made 18 starts (106.2 innings) this season. Last season, Flaherty had a 4.27 ERA in the first half while opponents posted a .772 OPS against him. After the All-Star break, he had a 6.27 ERA and opponents posted an .896 OPS against him. Flaherty’s made 31 career starts in September or August. His ERA in them: 4.47. Flaherty has millions of reasons to finish strong this time. But he’s never tried to do anything but that. Sometimes his body betrays him.
Last one. The rental ask for Flaherty will probably be too high for the Cardinals to stomach, considering their legitimate reasons for pause.
My pal Evan Woodbery, who covers the Tigers for MLive, noted this week just how many teams are clamoring for Flaherty’s services, and just how much the Tigers want to maximize the return. It’s probably going to take a prospect that hurts, or multiple top-15 prospects. And remember, you are only guaranteed to get the rest of this season with Flaherty.
The team that trades for him could get a head start on extending him, of course. There’s yet another reason for the Cardinals to not see what other teams see. Flaherty and the Cardinals never got very far down any meaningful extension road during his time here before, not even when he was cruising along as one of the best young starters in the game. Considering the current veteran state of the Cardinals’ rotation, they would be a lot better off getting a little more contract control, like the season and a half Jordan Montgomery brought from the Yankees when the Cardinals landed him in 2022.
There’s nothing wrong with a good reunion. The Cardinals have been more open to them lately than they seemed to be in the past. In this case, though, a team that is playing a lot better than last season’s last-place flop probably shouldn’t make its big trade-deadline addition the return of a player who contributed to said flop.