Jack Flaherty posted a 3.01 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate, and 8.2% walk rate over 347 1/3 innings during the 2018-19 seasons, finishing fifth in NL Rookie Of The Year voting in 2018 and then fourth in Cy Young Award voting in 2019. After coming up through the Cardinals’ farm system as a top-100 ranked prospect, it certainly looked like Flaherty was living up to that potential, and establishing himself as a frontline pitcher in St. Louis heading into the next decade.
Since then, however, things haven’t gone nearly as smoothly. He was one of several Cardinals sidelined by a COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, missing four weeks of an already shortened season and finishing with a 4.91 ERA over 40 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, abbreviated seasons became the trend for Flaherty, as he has tossed only 114 1/3 innings over 26 games since the start of the 2021 campaign.
An oblique strain and a shoulder strain limited Flaherty to 78 1/3 frames in 2021, and the shoulder problems carried over into 2022 when Flaherty needed a PRP injection to deal with bursitis during Spring Training. The recovery time and prerequisite ramp-up time delayed Flaherty’s season debut until June, but another shoulder strain just a couple of weeks later resulted in another visit to the 60-day injured list. He was able to return for five starts and a relief appearance in September/October, but Flaherty banked only 36 total innings last season.
Adding to Flaherty’s frustration is the fact that he has been pretty effective when on the mound, particularly prior to his oblique strain in 2021. The righty had a 3.54 ERA/4.26 SIERA over those 114 1/3 innings in the last two seasons, despite the mostly stop-and-start nature of his appearances. One can only imagine how well Flaherty might have been able to pitch had he been healthy, and how an in-form version of Flaherty might’ve helped the Cardinals (winless in three postseason games in those seasons) make more of an impact in the playoffs.
Considering the small sample sizes involved, it’s hard to extrapolate much from Flaherty’s lackluster Statcast metrics in the last two years, though he at least still had above-average strikeout and walk rates in 2021. Put simply, Flaherty’s most important statistic in 2023 will be innings pitched, since good health is his only path back to true front-of-the-rotation status, or even just being a consistent member of a big league rotation.
Now entering his third and final year of salary arbitration, Flaherty’s setbacks had a significant impact on his earning potential. He won an arb hearing over the Cardinals to earn a $3.9MM salary in 2021, and then avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $5MM salary last season. With so few innings to build on in 2022, Flaherty is projected to earn only a minimal raise up to $5.1MM for the coming season.
On the plus side, just one healthy and effective season can still line Flaherty up for a hefty contract in free agency next winter. Flaherty doesn’t even turn 28 until October, so there are several prime seasons still theoretically available for any team interested in paying a premium. In this scenario, Flaherty’s agents at CAA Sports might even seek a multi-year with an early opt-out clause, which would allow Flaherty to re-enter the market prior to his age-30 or age-31 season.
But, first things first — Flaherty has to avoid any more lengthy trips to the IL. Rotation-mate Steven Matz is in the same boat after an injury-marred 2022 season, and Matz and Flaherty are projected to pitch at the back end of a St. Louis rotation that also includes Miles Mikolas, Adam Wainwright, and Jordan Montgomery. Such pitchers as Dakota Hudson, Matthew Liberatore, Jake Woodford, and Zack Thompson are also on hand for depth, and while the Cardinals are certainly prioritizing winning over auditioning younger pitchers, the team may feel some pressure to see what they have in their controllable arms. Matz is the only member of the projected starting five who is under contract beyond 2023, as Flaherty, Montgomery, Wainwright (who might retire), and Mikolas are all free agents.
With this many rotation holes to address, it seems probable that the Cardinals will broach an extension with at least one pitcher this spring, yet Flaherty is probably the least likely to work out a long-term deal. Based on his lack of innings or real results in the last two seasons, Flaherty probably doesn’t want to risk undercutting his earning potential in advance of what he naturally hopes will be a rebound season, and the Cards likewise might not want to make a big investment in a pitcher who has been such an injury magnet for two years running.
It sets the stage for an intriguing season for the 27-year-old righty, as Flaherty might be heading into his final year in St. Louis regardless of how well he pitches. Either another injury-plagued year leads the Cardinals to move on, or Flaherty might himself depart for a big free agent contract on the heels of a successful bounce-back campaign.
As a Cub fan I realize there is a rivalry. I’ve always liked Flaherty and thought St. Louis was building quite a rotation around him a few years ago, especially after they traded for Goldy. I wish him well and an injury free season. Mahalo
Make or break year as without success he’ll have an ever decreasing platform from which to espouse woke talking points.
Jack gets more hate than a transvestite stripping at the club and it’s sad to see how many people thumbs up an approach that certainly isn’t coming from a place of love? Cool you don’t like jack because he thinks he’s black and speaks his mind? Why not just be truthful about the he thinks he’s black part when your throwing him under the rug for being “woke”
As for his pitching arm/shoulder, that’s what he gets for doing a victory lap after winning his arbitration hearing right? That’s part of his “woke personality” as well right?
Me I don’t care, politics can go jump off a cliff and everyone who’s following can go as well? I just wanna see Jack Flaherty pitching like his best friend just died, that was awesome
Comment of the year. This man brought the Ether like my friend Nas
Woke isn’t about thinking you’re black lol.
To be “woke” is to “selfishly” want social injustice to end for “other people suffering” due to “inequity, prejudice, or other forms of precieved tyranny?” Because it makes you look good to your billionaire owner that wants to low ball you your entire arbitration process since the first hearing is the base for your earning through arbitation?
Or at least that’s what I took away from nottinghamforest comment? You?
The wokeist agenda is flawed, because it isn’t about standing up to inequity or any prejudices that may happen, it is usually standing up for one group while taking shots at another. People get annoyed by his political takes, and I think a lot of the resentment toward him comes from his criticism toward those with deeply rooted religious beliefs not wanting to wear a gay pride logo on their jerseys or hats. Weird for someone to be so open minded and caring for certain groups while being unwilling to understand the views of other groups.
I’m not really a fan of sports personalities and players sharing their political views even if they align with mine. As a fan, I want to support the players and teams I like, without having to think about politics. It is an escape for many.
I think Nottinghamforest’s comment is coming from a place of frustration that a lot of fans share, because Jack is generally more active preaching his views than he is on the field.
I hope Jack has a great season, and will continue to root for him to help win us games.
Even as someone who would probably agree here, I don’t see the relevance here. Yes, guys like him bring up politics and controversial stuff out of the blue, but this is about a really poor player we should all sympathize with because he has only made 10.6 million dollars in his career. He may not be able to feed his family with all that money because those evil billionaire owners may not want to spend billions on payroll. I mean, it’s about a relatable struggle about how us middle class guys feel…
You can just ignore him off the field, and enjoy what he brings the time he’s on the field. Or do you have to silence someone because you don’t agree? I don’t listen to athletes because most of them have a high school education and are speaking from a limited scope of experience.
Yep. Most are uneducated, but education is really just a signaling mechanism. Many can go to college and finish, but they choose to play baseball. Even the guys like CY and others who went to Princeton likely got in on a sports scholarship and aren’t that bright. I can say education is overrated for athletes and sports execs. Jon Daniels went to Cornell and Chris Young went to Pirnceton, and yet both paid Jon Gray 14 million and Semien 25 million. Quite irrelevant, no? I went to a top 10 college in JHU, and I assure you I’m not some dumb person discrediting education just to feel better about myself.
I think the point stands his or any athletes opinions are no more relevant than anyone else’s. people in society specifically American/western culture like sports to a deterrent sometimes. No one took covid seriously until Rudy Gobert caused an NBA game to be cancelled. Ignore the athletes and just watch the game, personal branding is surely making things more convoluted in sports.
Ain’t saying it’s right, but whatever happened to free speech? Elon musk right
You can say whatever you want when you aren’t on a contract, and the government shouldn’t be sending police to your home, but there are still social consequences for saying stuff. Then, there are guys who say stuff on behalf of shareholders, stakeholders, and company owners. Manfred, for instance, can’t just exercise “free speech” and expect his bosses to let it slide. If this activism is off the field, let him do whatever and let others hate him for it. I just don’t care much about it since he isn’t Kapernick-level on the field.
Fredom of speach lol
God money ill do anything for you
God money just tell me what you want me to
God money nail me up against the wall
God money he doent want anything he wants it all
No you cant take
You cant take it
You cant take that away from me
Head like a hole
Black as your soul
I’d rather die
Than give you control
Bow down before the one you serve
Your going to get what you deserve
Exactly the reason the St. Louis fanbase has soured on Flaherty. His stock has gone down ever since he pulled his little stunt when he sat out a game for racial injustice. He chose a game he wasn’t pitching in for sure and made a spectacle of himself. He gained nothing out of it but resentment, He also didn’t really put anything on the line either as I said before, it was a game he wasn’t playing in anyway.
A white guy supporting Black Lives Matter? It’s like a non-white guy wearing a confederate cap or something. This does change how I feel about him (I’m not white in case it matters), but at least that incident didn’t spread (Kapernick) or impact the play of the game. It’s an incident I didn’t hear about as a Rangers’ fan, so probably not too disruptive… I’d still take him for cheap though.
That’s because all of the folk who would of supported this type of gesture in st louis don’t pay 30 dollars for cheep seats to watch baseball! They got other stuff that more important like why stray bullets keep killing their kids? Governor of st louis said “you just gotta have your head on a swivel always be looking out for bad” yeah cause that’s stop a bullet from penetrating you like you got some Neo skills straight out of the matrix? Let’s be honest the Cardinals fans come from the hills, like their owner, NOT from the city? At least 75% of the fan base doesn’t live inside st louis County limits?
They could care less because it doesn’t effect them? Like the war in Iraq and Afghanistan? That’s why politics are stupid? You got a bunch of people pretending to care about stuff to get elected and make money?
Cards should get the most they can out of him this year and let him walk in free agency. Shoulder problems have limited him the past few years and I would be skeptical to think that’ll just go away this year and going forward.
That reminds me, COKE BREAK BABY!!!!!!!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!
Love the cards
Someone needs to check their facts before publishing a story. Love the part where talking about the 2024 rotation, saying Wainwright may retire? He’s already announced 2023 is his final season… so nice attempt at a prediction.
What was the point of posting this?
I’m surprised there wasn’t any mention of Flaherty’s supposed discontentment with the Cardinals. At least I seem to recall there being an issue there. Anyone have details on that? I have been under the impression that even if the Cards did want to extend him at a price he’d agree to, he simply doesn’t want to stay with the Cards.
He didn’t agree to the league/Cardinals not paying younger players fairly while under arbitration. He likes the Cardinals. He just simply wants a max contract and now is the time to prove it for the Cardinals or anyone else. If he wasn’t happy he’d request a trade. Plus there’s always speculation he’d want to be in LA to be home.
It seems the two have often butted heads, disagreeing over salary, rehab status, information disclosed to the public and more.
I’m sure the Cardinals would trade him in a heartbeat but his injury history makes it impossible to accurately assess his value, so they’re playing out the string, with both sides recognizing the importance of a solid 2023 season. Either way, he won’t be back, though I’m sure the Cardinals are hoping he has a really good season so they can slap the qualifying offer on him and then watch him walk.
For what it’s worthy, he’s a California native, and I suspect he’d like to sign out there, though as with most players, I’m sure he’ll follow the biggest dollar signs. They just won’t be from the St. Louis.
Flaherty likes and dislikes STL at the same time. He doesn’t like the pay system that’s currently in place and how the Cardinals, as well as other teams, use it. He also doesn’t like the front office and how they want to manage and have oversight of how he trains. On the flip side, he likes the history of the cardinals and the legends that played in STL. He was very close to Bob Gibson before Gibson passed away. When Gibby dies in 2020, that’s when things went downhill for Flaherty. Could be a coincidence, or could be that it mentally beat him up and caused him to get out of sync with everything. From many accounts, Gibby was like a paternal figure for him, which is a big deal since he was raised by a single mother. Speaking of single mother, Flaherty and his mom are extremely close and it’s no secret he wants to be close to her and home in LA.
Ultimately, I think he likes the Cardinals, but not enough to keep him in STL. I think he signs with Dodgers or Angels next year. He also has a pretty intense friendly rivalry with Walker Buehler, for what it’s worth.
To be fair, I wouldn’t say his troubles began with Gibson’s death. Gibson passed away in October 2020. By that point Flaherty already had the awful 2020 shortened season, which was completely affected by one brutal start (9 of his 22 ER were in one start). But he was showing it was a fluke season in 2021 when he led the MLB in wins and had a 2.90 ERA in late May before his injury. He hasn’t been the same since then.
This has been a common misconception with him. He doesn’t dislike the Cardinals. He dislikes the entire MLB pay system and has the same issue with all 30 teams, he would be in the same place no matter who he played for. He believes that younger players should be paid a lot more than they are and has been very vocal about that. But he has also made sure to say that he does not hold it against the Cardinals for working in the system that’s been established, it’s the MLB at fault not the team.
it’s the MLB at fault not the team.
========================
There is no fault. It’s like my carpenter wanting more, and me wanting to pay him less, and we meet in the middle. Neither side is at fault for protecting their own interests.
Past that, it’s probably more the union’s fault. MLB’s interest is in paying less overall, and how the union chops it up is probably a lesser concern. The union, OTOH, could probably easily request that MLB lower the cap in exchange for a higher minimum wage.
“Cap”, like a salary cap? The small market teams have been begging for it for 3 decades
Salary caps help the owners by lower payroll. A higher minimum can be, and has been, negotiated without a cap.
I was hoping for a $1M minimum in this CBA, increasing each season and higher for 2nd and 3rd year players. Would the top FAs get a bit less? Maybe, but hardly enough to notice.
It would be more effective to do what the NFL, NBA, and NHL do with TV contracts. All TV contracts are all through the league and everyone shares the revenue. The union is never going to agree to a cap. They would agree to sharing TV revenue across the league. It might even increase salaries by increasing the number of teams capable of singing big time free agents. The big market teams would of course fight it tooth and nail. The huge local TV contracts are their biggest advantage over smaller market teams.
I agree it’s a preferable setup, but unfortunately a leagues-wide TV contract is impossible for MLB with every team playing at least 5 games a week. There’s simply no possible way to set up a TV schedule on just a few networks with that many games. Thus, the local TV contracts are a necessary evil.
They could work harder on compromising on the blackout rules, although the blackout themselves have good reasons behind them.
I hate the blackout rule. I live in New York and Pittsburgh is classified as blackout range even though they aren’t on the channels here. So I hardly watch them on TV since I was a young adult.
He did a victory lap after winning his arbitration hearing back in 2020 I think and immediately God punished him and he’s had shoulder problems ever since… he doesn’t dislike the Cardinals, Cardinals don’t dislike Jack Flaherty? Bill DeWitt is a cheap son of a gun and wants to pay his arbitration controlled players as little as possible especially in the first hearing since that sets earning power throughout arbitration for a player especially one like jack who had a really good year and has gotten minimal raises ever since due to health/on field performance?
So is he a trade candidate right now?
No, as that would be selling way too low, and the Cardinals can’t afford to be trading away rotation depth right now in the first place.
I agree, so I’m wondering why there’s an article about him.
It’s winter and the hot stove has gone cold.
Yup, it’s the offseason. Don’t have to be scraping the bottom of the barrel, inventing content. Take a damn break.
Make or break for his bank account, not for his team – he is a free agent after the 2023 season anyways
Shelby Miller 2.0?
Shelby Miller had good trade value when the Cardinals traded him. Flaherty has very little at this point.
One more year of this Flaherty crap and then he can go the f away for good. It can’t be over with soon enough.
Damn Kelce did someone serve you a skunky beer or what?
Jack Flaherty and Tyler O’Neill are the biggest X factors for the St Louis Cardinals.
I for one, expect big things from Ton this season.
I’d add Carlson to that list. He was looking good at 22 years old. Also had a 23 yo season full of nagging injuries. His 24 yo season could be a good year for him as well. I’m not one of those ready to give up on him after one down year at 23 years old.
Part time righty pitcher, full time lefty activist. Trade him
St Louis is a full time “lefty” town, so it’s a good fit.
The St. Louis area is very far right. It’s just the 300,000ish population of the city proper that is. Most major metropolitan city propers lean left, that’s because that’s where most of the low income, poor me, everything be fair and equal for everyone, people live. Get ten minutes out of downtown St. Louis on either side of the river and the views are drastically different.
Do you realize that most offices in St. Louis County are held by Democrats? Almost all offices on the east side of the river are held by Democrats. Hardly a far right area.
There’s more to the St. Louis metro area than just St. Louis the City, St. Louis County, and East St. Louis. For example, St. Charles County just on the other side of the Missouri River (and the third most populous county in Missouri after Jackson and St. Louis) is heavily Republican.
St. Louis county is a gigantic C around the city. Starting up in Florissant going down to the meremac river crossing on I55. The further south and west you from Florissant the more red you see. The further east of the river you get in Illinois, the same thing.
You obviously know nothing of the area. Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois are still quite blue. East St. Louis? It’s a burned out empty husk. My point was that it’s ridiculous to paint everything outside the city limits as extremely conservative. I stand by that point. I think everyone knows that the more rural you go, the more conservatives you find.
Not living in the STL market area, I don’t follow the politics of the players. Why exactly is he a “lefty activist”? Strictly due to him talking about compensation and control issues for young players?
He’s very vocal about everything. He does have very left leaning views and a need to share them with everyone.
He is a person you idiot! Who cares where is views are leaning and who cares if he shares them? As an independent I actually look at Rich people who lean laughed and want to pay more in taxes and think that’s pretty noble of them. But if you ever wanna have a debate on zoom I would eat you up before brunch
I’m not trying to fight with anyone here. I’m not going to take your bait. Poster asked a question. I answered it. My point being that anyone being loud and proud of their own views and dismissive of other views will turn themselves a lighting rod no matter what those views are.
Aubrey Huff, is that you?
As a Cardinals fan I am embarrassed at some of the silly takes a lot of Cardinals fans have on Flaherty for being an activist for his political views. I’m sure if he chose to wear flag colored suits and had dinner with trump a lot of these folks would be singing his praises. Personally I don’t care about a player’s political stance as long as it doesn’t affect performance or upset the clubhouse. And there has been no indication it has. Give me Flaherty’s being outspoken over being a deviant or wife beater any day. Let him go 15-10 3.50 this year, give him the QO and try to re-sign, and if he wants a few extra mill annually to pitch in LA, wish him well.
Yeah hopefully he dominates, then hit him with that QO. I know the ozuna trade looks real bad in hindsight but hitting him with QO got us burelson who has a bright future.
I think the biggest problem people have with him is that he talks a lot about everything while not being able to stay on the mound. His views are pretty standard for his age group. Did you need to bring Trump into it? I seriously doubt that would go over any better. It would simply upset a different group of people.
@CardsFan57 – Thanks for helping to clear that up. So a young pitcher with a bit of notoriety talks politics, and has the chutzpah in the Midwest to be relatively liberal. Doesn’t bother me in the least.
The unthinking extremes are what bothers me. Folks that make no effort to think, or to make the effort to see things from another person’s point of view. From what used to be called conservative, to relatively liberal – if they continue in good faith to try, they are OK.. The rise of the alt-right? A bunch of pathetic, unthinking whiners.
That’s not at all what I typed. Those are your words. Are you aware of the irony here?
@CF57 – I was not trying to insult you at all. I was thanking you for letting me know why folks out there were annoyed with him, as I do not hear about him other than baseball stuff..
Anything beyond that was certainly not aimed at you…it just took the discussion further. So no irony, and I am sorry that you took it as me giving you a hard time.
It was more along the lines that I wanted people to know that I wouldn’t have framed it in that way. I don’t care what any player thinks about anything except their sport. Having said that, players with a need to loudly share their views have to know it’s going to make them a lightning rod with about half the public.
For the most part, these people should just shut up. “I be good democrat/republican, share need to tell”. Just shut up and pitch, sing, dance, whatever. No one in the world cares about who they voted for.
@JoeBrady – I used to have a similar perspective. It certainly can be annoying to hear celebrities schooling everyone as if they understand the world better as a result of being able to play a sport or sing a song or look good on camera.
The flip side is that they have the same right to an opinion as anyone else and I cannot hold that against them. They DO have a much wider reach, however…but it is incumbent upon us to pick and choose as the reader. A Khardashian, for example…well, they have done nothing that makes me even remotely interested in anything about them at all, much less their political opinions…but they certainly have the right to talk about the subject if they desire to expose their own idiocy even further. There are other celebs and athletes, however, that are genuinely concerned and knowledgeable and are trying to make a difference and I can’t discount everything that they say due to the fact that they are not professionals in that field.
@mrperkins – I think that it is more along the lines of “we don’t care about an athlete’s / celebrities political views”…until it hits the point that we do care. There is always a tipping point, somewhere, for everyone..
The mini-minded, however – exemplified by a few posters in this thread – see one thing that threatens their poorly chosen identity and then lose whatever is left of their tiny little minds. There was clearly no reason raise the specter of Flaherty’s supposedly “leftist” tendencies on this thread..
To be fair, in this case his “political” views are directly relevant to MLB.
Please help me with that. My understanding is that his views related to MLB and the MLBPA are simply what each and every player has a vested interest in expressing as a part of their CBA.
Is he not allowed to have strong opinions on the subject of player negotiations, or is there another matter that I missing from your perspective?
The only way Flaherty is traded is if he has a great first half while St.Louis has a terrible first half. . He has little value until he proves he can stay on the mound. St. Louis won’t trade him if they have a shot at the playoffs. This will be his last season in St.Louis. He’s going to want a huge long term deal if he has a good season. St. Louis won’t give it to him. I doubt he finds it. Shoulder issues are a huge red flag with pitchers. Another bad season will likely see him signing a one year contract elsewhere for far less than he’d wants.
I don’t mind Flare’s propensity to speak up on topics, even if it bothers some. What’s bothersome to me is his railing against the pay system — pre-arb, arbitration processes — being what they are. He didn’t say jack during CBA negotiations.
I get it from his perspective. He was Bob Gibson in the 2nd half of a past season and isn’t going to get compensated remotely for that. But he’s functionally been ‘meh’ or injured the rest of the time.
The funny thing is, it’s clear he’s got good stuff still, and has the ability to be great. But Im not sure it’s nearly as much as he thinks it is at this point. Someone will pay him next offseason. Im quite confident it won’t be the Cardinals.
He didn’t say jack during CBA negotiations.
==============================
It’s an easy fix. If the players get $5B a year, and 20% goes to control players, simply re-allocate 10% from the richer players to the poorer players.
IMHO, I’d like to see the fringy players get more for their efforts, especially guys struggling to accrue service time to buy a house, get a pension, etc. But the richer players can already do that. Triple the union dues and start a welfare program for the younger players.
It ain’t fracking rocket science.
Lol some commenters here are so strange. Everything’s politics. Go leave those comments on another site not a baseball forum.
As for Flaherty’s baseball prospects – absolutely this is make or break. He was an Ace before injury. I think with a full off-season he will get back to where he was pre injury. He looked good his final two starts of last season and still very young
Go leave those comments on another site not a baseball forum.
=========================
These are actually comments on Flaherty’s political comments. The posters would likely say nothing if Flaherty said nothing.
But that said, I’d be inclined to move Flaherty up on my draft board. The injuries can account for some of his weak production, if one is inclined to think that way. He has to be marked down on injury concerns, but if healthy, I think he’s a solid production bet.
I agree. I hate activists who bring up politics when it isn’t relevant, but this is literally doing the same thing. I don’t care who is in a union or who supports what, as long as those guys perform. I hate Semien for being overpaid (before Swanson got his deal essentially). People do judge others, but the main thing here is he can play baseball at an elite level, and that should be the focus of a baseball site, not his views or anything. I just hope you feel the same about Curt Schilling.
LoL. I was thinking he’s somewhat the mirror of Schilling. I was not willing to name the devil though. Yes Schilling was irritating because he was loud and avbrasive. It cost him the Hall of Fame because he did have the numbers.
Flaherty wants out of St. Louis. He and the Cards Front office have clashed heatedly over his contract every year. Every Year, Flaherty comes out in the short stick.
No
Matter how hood or bad Flaherty is pitching —- he needs to be traded. At least the Cards will definitely recieve
Flaherty wants out of St. Louis. He and the Cards Front office have clashed heatedly over his contract every year. Every Year, Flaherty comes out in the short stick.
No
Matter how hood or bad Flaherty is pitching —- he needs to be traded. At least the Cards will definitely recieve something than a low level draft pick.
Yoiu think a 3 month rental of an injury prone guy having a bad season is going to bring back something of value? I don’t see it. Do you think the Cardinals can afford to offload a pitcher having a good season heading into the playoffs? No way I see them doing that. I hope they won’t do that.
Cardsfan is right. There’s absolutely no upside to trading Flaherty. No other team is going to give you anything for him, given the uncertainty surrounding his health and the fact that this is his walk year. On the other hand, its in both Stl and Jack’s best interest for him to have a good year, and if he does, his contribution to the team will far exceed whatever his current trade value is.
I look at him as a lottery ticket with decent odds of a positive return. If he’s healthy, the Cardinals benefit in season and through a likely qualifying offer draft pick. If he’s not, someone else will have an opportunity to pitch, be it Hudson, Pallante, Graceffo, etc. Either way, Flaherty is gone after the season.
His medicals are more sus than Correa’s. His shoulder injury is chronic. It’s not a question of if he tears it again but when. Plus he is mentally weak -always out there pouting on the mound and looking down at his cleats trying to blame them after he walks someone. He’s done as a starter.
Seperating Flaherty from his political views for a moment, he was solid when healthy in 2021. Even if he’s not an “ace” he’s still a decent mid-rotation arm and someone will give him 3 or 4 year deal if he makes the majority of his starts and at least keeps the Cardinals in games.
The Cardinals pitching staff as a whole is going to have a different feel to it throwing to Contreras instead of Molina for the first time in almost 2 decades
There is no make or break year for Jack. Just like the last couple of years he will spend a lot of time on the IL. I believe most of his injuries are fabricated because he doesn’t want to play for the CRdinals. He’s got beef with them over arbitration. He is also bum hurt that the organization won’t publicly back in on his social advocacies. Which they smartly won’t because of the fear of alienating fans of the opposing views. St. Louis is one of the most racist cities in the country to. Trade him for literally anything. You can’t put a QO on him, that would be giving him $20+ million. He may actually take that and sit out another year. If he’s on the Cardinals all year, he signs a 1 year pillow contract or one with opt outs in the first couple of years.
Flaherty isn’t going to destroy his chances at a better contract by faking injuries. He’s going to do the very best he can do to improve his chances at a good contract.
He absolutely will. He’ll do exactly what he has done the past couple of seasons. He’ll go out for a handful of starts and flash the ability that makes everyone think he could be something special. Then he’ll hit the IL for the rest of year. That way he gets his interest up while not risking a season ending injury before his free agency. Then suddenly there won’t be any medical concerns when other teams get a chance to look at them, because discomfort doesn’t show well in MRIs and the discomfort will have miraculously gone away.
You obviously think much less of him than I do. I don’t think he’s that spiteful and incredibly stupid.
I 100% thing he is. He’s done it the past few seasons. No reason to think he would change the corse now. He’s going to get set for life kind of money with his next contract regardless. I think he can really only hurt his next contract pitching poorly this year. I think he’ll get pretty much the same contract if he does well this year or doesn’t pitch at all because there will still be big question marks on repeatability going into free agency.
There’s absolutely no evidence that any of his past injuries have been fake!
For one thing, it would be incredibly stupid to do so, as it would’ve cost him a ton of financial value that he otherwise would’ve had throughout arbitration and eventually free agency.
Secondly, the team would never let him get away with it and simply refuse to place him on the IL.
That’s far from the truth. You cAnt qualify discomfort and that’s all you ever hear about his injuries. No major surgeries, just discomfort and a ton of time on the shelf to come back for a handful of games and boom, discomfort. Such a faberge egg. Plus he’s made more then $10 million already with barely pitching more than 500 inning so far. $5 million last year and a pay increase coming for 2023. He can ride his 2019 season for a while both through Arb and into his free agency. He’s not hurting for money, never has, never will.
Flaherty has been down with shoulder strains, shoulder bursitis, and a severe oblique strain. While you’re correct that none of those issues have resulted in major surgeries, those are still very legitimate injuries beyond just discomfort.
Just because he’s not hurting for money doesn’t mean it wouldn’t still be extremely stupid to purposely limit himself from making a lot more money.
Besides, my point remains that even if Flaherty tried to fake an injury, the Cardinals would never let him get away with it. They’d tell him to either pitch, retire, or be forced to retire once you get released and no other team wants you once the story goes public.
Nothing riles up a comment section like the subject of Jack Flaherty. Guy sends a few tweets and wears a couple of t shirts and people act like he’s some revolutionary anarchist or out there kneeling on the mound during the 7th inning stretch. With the average demo of the baseball fan getting older and more conservative by the year it isn’t surprising but doesn’t make it any less weird
Fair point, he certainly isn’t Kapernick, but let’s not ignore that 90% of guys jump to Curt Schilling’s off field comments they disagree with whenever his name is brought up
His shoulder is the real problem. He’s let something heal that will likely result in surgery regardless. It’s affecting his performance. He’s over compensating for it it physically, which will likely lead to other injuries.
If he gets surgery done, a teams willing to eat one year for that, and tack on a few more for him to be potentially good (or great), he’ll get a deal.
But my guess is that’s the high side of what he’ll end up with.
He will have his best season of his career, in 2023.
Don’t go down a wormhole..
He will have a career season in 2023.
Everyone in St Louis knows he’s already bleeding Dodger Blue!
The Dodgers can sign Alex Reyes too. It’s pretty much the same story so far.
He is already bleeding Dodger Blue!