Jack Flaherty 2023

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Once he got rolling yesterday he was an ACE. He’s got a lot to pitch for and prove as an upcoming FA. He gives our SP some swagger that they didn’t have before. 

I think we know who is starting Game One. 

I admire the optimism but to anoint him as a Game One starter after 6 innings is a bit silly. 
 

That said, he pitched better than expected yesterday. Very encouraging. 

[Rbiggs2525]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I admire the optimism but to anoint him as a Game One starter after 6 innings is a bit silly. 
 

That said, he pitched better than expected yesterday. Very encouraging. 

Agreed. If he threw bad yesterday I wouldn’t have been upset either. Very encouraged by the start because it’s basically 10 percent of the rental has been great.

[gallden]

11 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

What’s the contraption on his right arm?

https://marcpro.com/what-is-marcpro/

 

Probably the more expensive version of one of these. 

[IPlayGM]

My thoughts:

-his slider and knuckle curve were both quality pitches that got a lot of swing and miss. Don’t feel we have starters that have multiple offspeed swing and miss pitches.

-looks like he is similar to pretty much every other pitcher in history; fastball command to get ahead will dictate his success

[Sports Guy]

The knuckle curve is such a great pitch. 

[RZNJ]

I assumed it was the slider that he ha pinpoint control of innings 2-5.  He pretty much was going knee high outside corner and a little further out for the chase.  That pitch was virtually unhittable.   I was pleasantly surprised by the 92-96 velocity as well. 

[bluedog]

15 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

This is a really good offseason to buy pitching and I am guessing that the costs will stay down more because of that.

Best pitcher willing to sign for 3 or less years is on the table. Flaherty, because he’s only going to be 28, probably can set himself to get more than 3 years if he ends the year strong.

But he has had durability issues the last several years, so it may be an issue for him to get a longer deal.

Who would you be most excited to land in FA?

For me it's Julio Urias. His slightly elevated ERA this year may keep his price more reasonable and his peripherals still seem near elite to me.

I'd also love to keep Flaherty.

Edited August 4, 2023 by bluedog

[Sports Guy]

16 minutes ago, bluedog said:

Who would you be most excited to land in FA?

For me it's Julio Urias. His slightly elevated ERA this year may keep his price more reasonable and his peripherals still seem near elite to me.

I'd also love to keep Flaherty.

Snell is my guy but really, anyone who is taking 3 years or less that has good to very good upside. I don’t want another Gibson/Lyles type guy.

Unless we see a lot of trades or injuries, I think there is only one open rotation spot next year.

[Baltimorecuse]

I saw a blogger saying the O's had Flaherty use his cutter more.  

[Aristotelian]

For what it's worth, they are currently lined up Bradish, Grayson, Flaherty, Kremer, Gibson. That is pretty close to how I would draw it up right now, maybe bumping Gibson ahead of Kremer depending on how they do the rest of the season. 

[bluedog]

31 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Snell is my guy but really, anyone who is taking 3 years or less that has good to very good upside. I don’t want another Gibson/Lyles type guy.

Unless we see a lot of trades or injuries, I think there is only one open rotation spot next year.

It will be very interesting to see what the O's do with Means, Kremer, Bradish, Wells & GRod already in the fold. It's not my preference, but I can imagine a scenario (Means pitches really well end of this year and next spring) where Elias goes with that group of 5 starters.

If they do sign a Snell or Urias (or Flaherty) then someone from that group misses out unless they go to a six man rotation. Wells to the pen is a possibility, but given how he pitched up to the last 3 starts, I expect he wouldn't be happy with that role.

[Sports Guy]

16 minutes ago, bluedog said:

It will be very interesting to see what the O's do with Means, Kremer, Bradish, Wells & GRod already in the fold. It's not my preference, but I can imagine a scenario (Means pitches really well end of this year and next spring) where Elias goes with that group of 5 starters.

If they do sign a Snell or Urias (or Flaherty) then someone from that group misses out unless they go to a six man rotation. Wells to the pen is a possibility, but given how he pitched up to the last 3 starts, I expect he wouldn't be happy with that role.

Here’s the thing with Wells, how much can you trust him? The last few years he has gotten hurt and missed time. This year, it’s signs of fatigue at only 100 IP.

You figure this will get better but it’s hard to keep relying on him even if he is good. 
 

I go into next year with the assumption that GRod, Bradish and Means have a spot.

Then you can probably  count on 1 spot from Kremer or Wells and maybe if a guy like Povich or McDermott wow you the rest of this year and in ST, they can beat those guys out. And, of course, we just don’t know what to think for Hall. I know the conventional wisdom at this point is reliever only and that is probably correct but obviously the Os see something with him where they have doubted that. Do they still?  We don’t know but he could play a role here.

So I think it’s one spot for a vet starter with very good upside and there are several of those available this offseason and Flaherty is certainly one of those guys.

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by Sports Guy

[bluedog]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Here’s the thing with Wells, how much can you trust him? The last few years he has gotten hurt and missed time. This year, it’s signs of fatigue at only 100 IP.

You figure this will get better but it’s hard to keep relying on him even if he is good. 

I agree, but does Elias?

[Just Regular]

33 minutes ago, Baltimorecuse said:

I saw a blogger saying the O's had Flaherty use his cutter more.  

The PitcherList write up highlighted that too - cutter bump from ~10% to ~30% by their reckoning, but this may be one of those classification things and the (not that big) difference between a cutter and a slider.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Just Regular said:

The PitcherList write up highlighted that too - cutter bump from ~10% to ~30% by their reckoning, but this may be one of those classification things and the (not that big) difference between a cutter and a slider.

It could have been more a matter of the opposition instead of a change in his overall approach.

I wouldn't read a lot into one game.