In a season of struggles for nine-year veteran righty Jack Flaherty, after he signed a two-year $35 million free agent contract with the Detroit Tigers in the offseason, the 29-year-old suffered his worst outing of the year on Friday. The Tampa Bay Rays shelled him for eight runs on six hits and three walks â all inside of 2 1/3 innings.
But the start wasn’t all bad for Flaherty. Simply by taking the mound, he doubled his salary for 2026 â swelling the total value of his contract to $45 million.
Of course, Flaherty’s contract gives him the opportunity to opt out after the 2025 season and hit the free agent market once again. That is almost certainly what Flaherty himself expected to happen, with reports that he was seeking a five-year deal as a free agent but settled for the two years in his contract with Detroit â the same team for which he pitched 18 games last season before the Tigers dealt him to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline.
With His 15th Start, Flaherty Doubled His 2026 Paycheck
But the results that Flaherty has seen so far in 2025 increase the odds that he’ll stick with his current contract, especially because his deal contains a provision that increases his 2026 payday from $10 million to $20 million if he makes 15 starts this season.
His start against Tampa Bay on Friday was his 15th, automatically earning him that $10 million raise for next season, should he choose to stay in Detroit. Flaherty is set to collect $25 million from Detroit in this, the first year of his two-year deal.
Friday’s game ended in 14-8 loss for the Tigers, who nonetheless continue to hold MLB’s best record, even after losing again to the Rays on Saturday, this time by an 8-3 score.
At 48-30, they could end Saturday tied with the Dodgers for the MLB-best position. The 47-30 Dodgers are facing the 31-45 Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium.
But the Tigers still lead the American League Central division by nine games over the Cleveland Guardians.
They’ve reached this point, however, without much help from Flaherty whose defeat on Friday gave him an AL-worst eighth loss against five wins. His ERA now stands at 4.83.
Struggles All Season Long For Flaherty
Though Friday’s outing was his most disastrous so far in 2025, Flaherty has gone through multiple poor starts. In fact, in just his previous outing â against the Cincinnati Reds on June 14 â he surrendered seven runs, all earned, in 4 2/3 innings.
He has been roughed up for at least four earned runs in three other games earlier this season.
Unless he turns things around in what will likely be his final 13 starts of the season (Flaherty started more than 28 in a single season only once, and that was in 2019 when he gave the St. Louis Cardinals 33 starts), Flaherty will probably find that the now-$20 million guarantee for 2026 from the Tigers will be the most attractive option available to him.
Flaherty was contrite after Friday’s disaster, but offered no answers for his struggles this season.
“These guys deserved a lot better out of me tonight. Especially with the doubleheader yesterday and the way they went out and competed tonight and made a game out if it,” Flaherty said, as quoted by The Detroit News. “They deserved better.”
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