With minutes to spare at trade deadline, Dodgers land starting pitcher Jack Flaherty
It took until the final hours before Tuesday’s trade deadline, but the Dodgers finally landed the impact pitcher they so desperately coveted.
In a deadline-day deal with the Detroit Tigers, the Dodgers acquired veteran starter Jack Flaherty, according to a person with knowledge of the situation but unauthorized to speak publicly — adding the 28-year-old right-hander and Harvard-Westlake product to a short-handed pitching staff in need of a frontline reinforcement.
In Flaherty, the Dodgers hope they have found it.
The eight-year veteran is 7-5 this season with a 2.95 ERA, which would be his lowest in a season since receiving Cy Young Award votes in 2019. He has 133 strikeouts in 106 ⅔ innings, finding renewed success this year with his fastball-curveball-slider pitch mix. And for the Dodgers, he represents a legitimate option to start postseason games — possibly featuring alongside Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (if he regains health and form after sitting out the last two months because of a shoulder injury) in a potential playoff rotation.
Just as they did last season, the Dodgers acquire infielder Amed Rosario and shore up their right-handed hitting.
The Dodgers will send two prospects, catcher Thayron Liranzo and shortstop Trey Sweeney, to Detroit in the deal, which was first reported by ESPN.
Entering Tuesday, the Dodgers had interest in Flaherty and Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet, according to people with knowledge of the situation who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
While Crochet was seen by most evaluators as the more talented pitcher — the hard-throwing left-hander leads the American League in strikeouts — he was also a more complicated acquisition.
There were concerns over his career-high workload. His two years of remaining team control made him a more valuable asset.
And the White Sox were driving a high price, desiring top prospects, such as catcher Dalton Rushing, that the Dodgers were reluctant to include in the deal, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
By Tuesday afternoon, the Dodgers’ search for another starting pitcher shifted to Flaherty, a past trade target of the team’s who was having a resurgent season with the rebuilding Tigers.
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox were also reportedly interested in Flaherty, who has rebounded from his 4.99 ERA with the St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Orioles last season.
As the top rental pitcher available on the market — Flaherty is on a one-year, $14 million contract this season and will be a free agent in the winter — the expectation was that acquiring Flaherty would be pricey, as well, especially after the Toronto Blue Jays got three prospects from the Houston Astros for pitcher Yusei Kikuchi on Monday.
In the end, however, the Dodgers were able to hang on to their highest-ranked prospects. Liranzo was the club’s No. 8 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, but was blocked at the position by Rushing and Diego Cartaya (not to mention big league catcher Will Smith, who signed a 10-year extension in March). Sweeney was the team’s No. 22 prospect, and had been bypassed by Alex Freeland as the organization’s best shortstop talent.
And now, the team’s rotation has been solidified by another veteran pitcher, one who has a 1.77 ERA in his last eight outings.
Flaherty won’t arrive free of all concerns. He has dealt with back issues each of the last two seasons, receiving an injection as recently as last month. He also doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, but compensates for his 93-mph velocity with a mix of swing-and-miss breaking stuff.
Before agreeing to the trade for Flaherty, the Dodgers did explore one other pathway to bolstering their pitching staff, maintaining interest in Miami Marlins closer Tanner Scott, according to a person with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly, before he was dealt in a blockbuster trade to the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers landed utility man Tommy Edman and relief pitcher Michael Kopech in a three-team trade with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago White Sox.
In the final minutes before the 3 p.m. PT deadline, it looked as if that might be the extent of the Dodgers’ activities on Tuesday — that, like the last couple of deadlines, they wouldn’t land an impact addition.
With only minutes to spare, however, news broke that the Dodgers had landed the pitcher — addressing their biggest deadline need at just about the last second.
Kevin Kiermaier acquired
The Dodgers swung another trade just before the deadline, acquiring center fielder Kevin Kiermaier from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for pitcher Ryan Yarbrough, whom the club designated for assignment Monday.
Kiermaier, a 34-year-old veteran who plans to retire at the end of the season, has been a player of interest for the Dodgers in the past. Now, he will add a little more depth — and another left-handed bat — to their outfield mix, as well as premium center field defense as a four-time Gold Glover.
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