Angels pursuit of highly touted hurler could heat up with an important date looming

It seems like forever ago that the Angels were named as one of the favorites to sign Jack Flaherty, an impressive starter with the top-of-the-line stuff the rotation desperately needs. Yet here we are, nearly two months after many pundits predicted the Halos as the best fit for the former Dodgers hurler, and all has gone quiet on the Flaherty front.

In some ways, that’s no surprise. Flaherty, an upgrade to what the Angels already have and a great pitcher, was not one of the leaders of a deep free-agent starter class this offseason. The likes of Blake Snell and Max Fried got snatched up early. Perhaps the biggest name, Corbin Burnes, went off-the-board shortly thereafter. While some moves have been made in the next tier, where Flaherty resides, a lot of movement on the pitching market has come to a standstill because of an important date.

That date is January 15th, the opening of the international free agent signing period, and more importantly the beginning of when we might find out where highly-coveted 23-year-old Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki lands.

For weeks, teams have been lining up to make their pitches to the tantalizing youngster with ace potential. The number of teams involved in the Sasaki chase was up to an estimated 20 at one point, but has since been narrowed down to three. Free agent movement on the pitching market has frozen as the baseball world awaits his decision. He will have from January 15th until January 23rd to sign with either the Dodgers, Padres, or Blue Jays. When Sasaki drops, the action will heat up again.

Once the Sasaki domino falls, the Angels could land Flaherty

After the initial wave of deals, Flaherty has wisely been waiting for the dust to settle with Sasaki to find his own landing spot. Perhaps one of the teams in the chase gets desperate after losing out and throws him a big bag of money. However, the later we get into the offseason, the harder it will be for him to find the lucrative long-term deal that he craves. It’s now rumored that as the march toward spring training progresses, Flaherty and other top free agents could consider shorter-term deals in order to rebuild value.

A short-term deal could be music to meddlesome owner Arte Moreno’s ears, as he has promised both to open up the purse strings but also shied away from big signings, especially with free-agent pitchers. Flaherty is exactly the type of pitcher the Angels need, and makes a lot of sense for this team on a short-term deal. The Angels are devoid of a true ace, and Flaherty put up ace-like numbers last season. He posted a 3.17 ERA and 3.48 FIP on the strength of 10.78 K/9 while logging 162 innings.

However, 2023 was a much different story as the right-hander struggled mightily to the tune of a 4.99 ERA. At just 29 years old, Flaherty is in his prime, and another solid season could give him another bite at the apple for a big contract. For the Angels, it’s a solid dart throw to get top-end stuff into a rotation that sorely needs it, while avoiding the long-term contract that terrifies Moreno.

The buzz between these two sides should certainly grow louder, and soon, as the next week will be telling for how the remainder of the starting pitching market will shake up.