Jack Flaherty opts in to $20 million Tigers contract for 2026

Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty will be back with the team in 2026. 

Flaherty, 30, picked up his player option for the 2026 season, and he’ll be back in Detroit making $20 million, the team announced Tuesday night.

The option for 2026 for Flaherty had originally been for $10 million, but it increased to $20 million when he surpassed 15 starts this season. 

The starter had returned to the Tigers on a two-year contract last offseason after starting 2024 with the club before he was traded to the Dodgers and helped them win the World Series over the Yankees. 

Flaherty is coming off a 2025 season in which he did not perform as expected, posting a 4.64 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP in 31 starts for the Tigers. 

His 188 strikeouts were ninth-best in the American League, and he had a 10.5 strikeout per nine innings rate. 

Had Flaherty turned down the option, this offseason would have been his third straight in which he was a free agent. 

Flaherty started his pro career when he was picked 34th overall by the Cardinals in the 2014 MLB Draft, and in 2019, he was in the running for the NL Cy Young, finishing fourth in the voting. 

He spent parts of seven seasons in St. Louis before he was traded to the Orioles in the middle of the 2023 season. 

In 2024, he recorded a 3.17 ERA while striking out 194 batters in 28 total starts between the Tigers and Dodgers. He’ll rejoin a staff with 2024 AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal as Detroit will look to make the playoffs for the third straight year.