Jack Flaherty's comments hint at Tigers' return despite interest in Dodgers' reunion

There's no clear explanation for why Jack Flaherty is still lingering on the free agent market. He's the best starter left, and he reportedly adjusted his asking price to fewer years and a higher average annual value, which should've sent teams flocking.

It could be that Flaherty was holding out for the Dodgers, and waiting to see whether or not they would sign Roki Sasaki. If they hadn't, it could've left a door open for Flaherty in LA.

Flaherty, in what was quickly interpreted as a bid to re-sign in LA by doing a little sucking up, tweeted amid the online firestorm about all of the Dodgers' deferrals. He wrote on Twitter, "A certain team isn't ruining baseball. A lot of other teams are just doing very little." Well, both could also be true.

And anyway, the Dodgers did get Sasaki (to no one's surprise) and Flaherty is still without a team. Spring training is just weeks away, though, so he'll need a home soon.

The Tigers said they were done adding free agent pitchers after signing Alex Cobb to a one-year deal, but Flaherty indicated that they might not actually be done. During an appearance on Foul Territory, he said, "I wanted to stay in Detroit. We had conversations. I loved it there. [...] We've been talking to them and talking to other teams. It'd be fun to go back there."

Jack Flaherty confirms he's held talks with Tigers during prolonged free agency

Flaherty certainly does seem like he wants to go back to the Dodgers, but to be fair to him, he definitely has made it seem like the Tigers would be a desired backup option. He tweeted his support for the team throughout their postseason run and after Tarik Skubal's Cy Young win, and he even gave a shoutout to Jake Rogers' great mustache on social media recently, among a slew of other super-unemployed tweets.

The Tigers need another starter, which is what made their complacency after signing Cobb so frustrating. They could get by with some combination of Skubal, Reese Olson, Cobb, Jackson Jobe, and Casey Mize, but that's not exactly a rotation you can always place full confidence in.

Adding Flaherty and scrapping Mize would immediately make the rotation stronger. Flaherty had a sub-3.00 ERA in Detroit last season, which is a credit to the coaching staff after Flaherty took a prove-it deal with them for 2024.

If those talks are still happening, then the Tigers need to move. Flaherty won't stay on the market forever.