Jack Flaherty MLB Trade Deadline odds: Right-hander potentially making final Cardinals start Wednesday vs. Diamondbacks
The St. Louis Cardinals will be sellers at the trade deadline.
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While the St. Louis Cardinals have been playing better overall since June 17 – they are four games above .500 in that span – they remain extreme playoff longshots with a 45-57 record and are fully expected to be sellers ahead of next Tuesday's MLB trade deadline. Wednesday night's start in Arizona could therefore be Flaherty's final outing in a Cardinals uniform. SportsLine offers odds on Flaherty's potential next team.
At fourth place in the NL Central and 11 games out of first place, as well as 10 games out of the NL's final wild card spot, the postseason is now a pipe dream for one of the most successful franchises in MLB. The Cardinals, who are +2500 at DraftKings to make the playoffs, probably will finish with their first losing record since 2007, as they would have to play at almost a .600 clip the rest of the way to finish above .500.
General Manager John Mozeliak has said he will sell, but not at the detriment of hurting the team's 2024 contending chances, so reports are that reigning NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, future Hall of Fame third baseman Nolan Arenado and young outfielders Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker are the only ones off limits.
Flaherty (7-6, 4.39 ERA, 102 Ks) is set for free agency, so he's likely a goner by Aug. 1, as is fellow pitcher Jordan Montgomery, also a pending free agent. The 27-year-old Flaherty was the No. 34 overall pick in the 2014 draft by St. Louis and has spent his entire career with the franchise. Flaherty looked like a potential future NL Cy Young winner in 2019, only his second full season, when he was 11-8 with a 2.75 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 231 strikeouts in a career-high 33 starts.
Alas, while Flaherty has had his moments since then he has never been that dominant since, in large part due to injuries. His 104.2 innings this year are nearly as many as his past three MLB seasons combined. His walks are up quite a bit, though, hence the 1.53 WHIP.
Flaherty hasn't hurt his stock this month by going 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA. He is 0-2 with a 2.79 ERA in three career starts against Arizona and took the loss at home vs. the Diamondbacks on April 17, allowing four runs over six. He hasn't pitched in the desert since Sept. 24, 2019. Flaherty is +170 to personally win and set at over/under 17.5 outs, 2.5 earned runs and 5.5 strikeouts. As far as the outs recorded prop goes, we are in the time of the year where we could see a pitcher pulled mid-start if a trade is close – although it's still unlikely.
The Diamondbacks are reportedly one team interested in Flaherty. So are the Orioles – essentially, you can bunch Flaherty in with the Cubs' Marcus Stroman and White Sox's Lucas Giolito as the three most likely big-name right-handers to be traded, as we are assuming Shohei Ohtani will stay put.
Flaherty is from Los Angeles (Giolito and Max Fried were his high school teammates), and the Cardinals always like to do right by their players as a class organization, so one can't rule out a trade to the Dodgers with all their starting pitching injuries. St. Louis wants controllable pitching in return for Flaherty and the Dodgers boast 12 pitchers in their top 30 prospects. L.A. also reportedly wants outfield help, so the Cardinals could fulfill both needs by sending along someone like Dylan Carlson as well to get more back.
Flaherty's next scheduled start is Aug. 1, about four hours after the deadline. It would be surprising if he's still with St. Louis.
Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Which team will Jack Flaherty be on after the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline?
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