Walker Buehler recently came off the board by signing a one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox, but another Los Angeles Dodgers free agent in Jack Flaherty remains available.
The right-hander is expected to receive a multi-year contract and has drawn interest from several teams, including the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets.
The Orioles have a need for starting pitching after seeing Corbin Burnes depart for the Arizona Diamondbacks on a six-year, $210 million contract.
According to Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic, the Orioles recently checked in with Flaherty and could pivot to signing him:
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal previously reported that Flaherty would be a fallback option for the Orioles in the event they failed to re-sign Burnes. Indeed, such a pursuit ended up being the case. The Orioles recently inquired about Flaherty, among others.
Flaherty had a brief stint with the Orioles during the second half of the 2023 season and struggled before getting moved to the bullpen. He posted a 6.75 ERA and 1.67 WHIP in nine appearances (seven starts) for the team.
Flaherty then went on to sign a one-year contract with the Tigers before joining the Dodgers at the 2024 MLB trade deadline. He went 13-7 with a 3.17 ERA, 3.47 FIP and 1.07 WHIP in 28 combined starts between the clubs.
Flaherty is one of the top remaining starting pitchers on the market and his past struggles do not appear to be deterring the Orioles from potentially signing him.
Baltimore has already made one addition to their starting rotation with the signing of Tomoyuki Sugano to a one-year, $13 million contract.
Jack Flaherty recalls uncommon mound visit by Dave Roberts
Flaherty made just 15 starts for the Dodgers between the regular season and postseason, but developed a good relationship with manager Dave Roberts.
Flaherty recently detailed a mound visit with Roberts where he was able to convince him to let him stay in the game despite a high pitch count.
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