Insider: Yankees "Couldn't Stomach" Acquiring Jack Flaherty in Trade

The New York Yankees are down 2-0 in the World Series, thanks in part to an excellent Game 1 start by LA Dodgers' hurler Jack Flaherty. The veteran starter could actually have been in Pinstripes right now were it not for the Yankees' last-minute yips in acquiring him, per insider Jon Heyman.

The Yankees were down the road on a potential deal they’d been discussing with the (Detroit) Tigers for Flaherty before backing away over a perceived lower back situation...

As it turned out, the Dodgers, due to their injury-ravaged pitching rotation, "had to make the Jack Flaherty trade (that) the Yankees couldn’t stomach."

Flaherty has gone on to be ace-like in Dodger Blue, going 6-2 for LA for the remainder of the regular season with a 3.58 ERA, and though he had rough starts in both the ALDS and ALCS, he responded in the biggest moment, tossing five innings in Game 1 of the World Series, allowing just two runs, and giving the Dodgers the runway to come back and win in historic fashion on the Freddie Freeman extra-inning grand slam.

The Yankees' rotation might be deeper than the Dodgers, but now, in hindsight, it seems like trading for him in order to prevent LA from getting him would have been the wise move. The Dodgers are without injured starters Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin (the latter two for the entirety of the 2024 season).

Flaherty, who had been injury-prone the past several years, was healthy and back to his old self this season in Detroit, though he did miss a game with "back discomfort" in early July, just a few weeks before the trade deadline. But the Dodgers were fine with taking a chance, due to the huge bounceback season he was having, sitting with a 2.95 ERA at the time. That decision could end up being the difference in this World Series, as he's still got at least one more start to come.