Will it be one of his last appearances in the Old English “D?”

As the Free Press’ Evan Petzold has reported numerous times, the Tigers plan on trading Flaherty at the deadline, and have planned to deal him since signing him to a one year prove-it deal in the offseason. In the first half of the year, Flaherty did just that, proving that he can still be an extremely valuable member of a starting rotation after making a few tweaks. But just as there were tweaks to Flaherty’s game from the Tigers’ coaching staff, there have been multiple tweaks in Flaherty’s back this year.

The right-hander has missed multiple starts because of flareups in his back, leading to injections to deal with the pain. If it weren’t for the injury concerns, Flaherty would be a very valuable asset, and even with them still could bring back a nice return for the Tigers.

After Wednesday’s start, you have to wonder if the Tigers would be willing to risk sending Flaherty out again and having the possibility of an injury — either to his back or otherwise — and miss out on getting something back, especially after what happened at the trade deadline to Scott Harris and the Tigers’ front office last year with Eduardo Rodriguez.