Tigers prospect promotion puts pressure on Jack Flaherty to deliver for Dodgers

The Tigers are already cashing in on their half of the deal that headlined the Dodgers' trade deadline. LA received Jack Flaherty, easily the hottest commodity on the market with the best chances of being traded, and Detroit received prospects Trey Sweeney and Thayron Liranzo in what was widely considered to be a steal for the Dodgers.

Liranzo is still in High-A, so the Tigers won't be seeing him for some time, but Sweeney went straight to the Mud Hens, the Tigers' Triple-A affiliate, and needed just 11 games there to make his case for an MLB debut this season. He batted .381 with a 1.114 OPS, two homers, and nine RBI. On Thursday, Kiley McDaniel reported that the Tigers would be rewarding his hard work with a call up.

Detroit was absolutely roasted for the way they handled the Flaherty trade, with Jim Bowden calling it the worst deal of the deadline and listing Scott Harris as the "GM who asked for too much in trades."

However, Sweeney's success and promotion might have to change the conversation a bit. Maybe this one wasn't a total loss for Detroit, and it puts more pressure on Jack Flaherty to prove that the Dodgers did get the better end of this deal.

Trey Sweeney's Tigers promotion suggests Dodgers aren't the clear winners in the Jack Flaherty trade

Flaherty's made three starts for the Dodgers since the deadline, and his last two have been a little rocky. On Aug. 9 against the Pirates, he was pulled with two outs in the sixth after allowing a walk and a single. He'd already given up eight hits and four runs on a solo homer and a three-run homer, but luckily the Dodgers lineup had been coming through for him all night; Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani were the highlights with homers of their own, though guys throughout lineup worked to give LA a six-run lead before Pittsburgh even scored their first run.

It was Flaherty on the bump again Thursday against the Brewers, and Milwaukee got the scoring started early when Jackson Chourio grabbed ahold of a second-pitch fastball in the bottom of the first and belted it to center field for a two-run homer. William Contreras tacked another run on with his own homer in the same inning. Flaherty settled in after that and only gave up one more hit through four innings while striking out seven batters, but the Dodgers still fell to the Brewers 6-4.

The Dodgers still got one of the guys they were really gunning after and didn't have to give up as much as anyone expected to do it, but Sweeney's promotion still puts the heat on Flaherty to prove that he's still the best piece of that deal.