The Detroit Tigers we just experienced one of the craziest seasons Major League Baseball has ever seen, thanks in large part to the recent expansion of the playoffs.

Entering the July 30 MLB trade deadline with a 52-57 record, the team found itself 14.0 games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the American League Central division lead and 7.5 games behind third Wild Card spot.

A sale followed as the team turned its attention to the future, but the baseball gods found favor in something the Tigers were doing and helped lead them to a crazy turnaround that saw the club finish the 2024 campaign with an 86-76 record. , good enough for that third Wild Card berth.

However, the sale has already been completed, with many pieces finding new homes with new organizations, including veteran starter Jack Flaherty.

Flaherty was traded to Los Angeles Dodgerswith minor leaguer Thayron Liranzo and Trey Sweeney heading to Detroit instead.

The season would culminate with Flaherty celebrating his first World Championship while the Tigers were already several weeks into their vacation.

Now, Flaherty is about to enter free agency, with Keith Law of The Athletic ranking the right-hander the eighth-best available free agent and the fourth-best starting pitcher.

“If healthy, he’s a strong No. 3 starter who can work deep into games,” Law writes, “because he’s efficient and misses enough bats to survive heavy contact.”

This will be the second foray into free agency for Flaherty, who signed a one-year, $14 million deal with Detroit last offseason.

Consistency has been an issue for the starter throughout his career, and for him to be ranked this high as an available free agent could be a strong case of recent bias.

Flaherty has certainly shown flashes of brilliance at times throughout his career and has a 3.63 ERA in 829 2/3 innings with 942 strikeouts and a 112+ ERA in 159 games (153 starts ).

2024 was one of the best seasons of Flaherty’s career with a 3.17 ERA in 162 innings with 194 strikeouts and 127 ERA, but he was in a contract year and proved that players really step up their game when working on a bigger contract.

Even with the inconsistency Flaherty has shown throughout his career, the veteran can be a valuable piece on the back end of any contender’s rotation.