Framber Valdez of the Detroit Tigers walks to the clubhouse after being for drilling Boston’s Trevor Story. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
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Framber Valdez should have been one of the hottest pitchers on the off-season free agent market. And yet, he lingered out there until the eve of spring training, finally finding a taker. The Detroit Tigers inked the pitcher to a three-year, $115 million contract to bolster their staff and to prepare for the (inevitable?) day when Tarik Skubal leaves for greener pastures and considerably more green.
On the surface, the deal Valdez signed was quite a coup: $17.5 million this season, $37.5 million in 2027, and $35 million in 2028, if he doesn’t elect to opt out after the second year of the deal. The deal allows him to re-enter the market as a 34-year old, after a new collective bargaining agreement is signed, and try to lock up even more guaranteed money.
But when you dig deeper and when you compare Valdez’s deal to, say Gerrit Cole’s nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees (signed when he was three years younger than Valdez), or Blake Snell’s five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers (signed at roughly the same age), or Max Fried’s eight-year, $218 million deal with the Yankees (signed at age-31), or Dylan Cease’s seven-year, $210 million contract with the Blue Jays (he was just two years younger than Valdez), it seems that there was considerably less appetite for the three-time Top-10 Cy Young Award finisher.
And why was that? Let us count the reasons.
Crossing Up His Catcher
Last season, in a fit of pique, he (allegedly) deliberately threw a fastball when his catcher called for a curve, landing a 93-mph pitch into the catcher’s chest. After the game, Valdez claimed “I hit him by mistake.” But many wondered how that could happen? It was the first time he was throwing to César Salazar, and not Yainer Diaz, his battery mate in 22 of his first 25 starts of the 2025 season, and by all accounts, he was not happy with the receiver’s pitch-calling.
Failing to Follow The Plan
Throwing what he wanted even when it was not what the catcher called for seems reasonable when you look back to the season before. In 2024, while pitching to Diaz, Valdez failed to follow the pitching plan against the Angels, repeatedly shaking off his catcher, and ultimately giving up eight earned runs and ten hits over five innings, while striking out just three batters. This failure to follow the plan caused a great deal of consternation within the organization.
Complaining About Coaching/Defense
Last summer, Valdez complained about the team’s defensive positioning. In the sixth inning of a 1-0 game against the Nationals, the Astros outfield was set for a fly ball from Nathaniel Lowe (who, for his career, has an above-average flyball rate and a below-average ground ball rate). As it happened, Lowe hit a ball through the four-hole that rolled nearly all the way to the wall, allowing the runner on first (the extremely slow Josh Bell) to come all the way around to score and tie the game. After the game, through an interpreter, Valdez said the following:
Last summer, Valdez complained about the team’s defensive positioning. In the sixth inning of 1-0 game against the Nationals, the Astros outfield was set for a flyball from Nathaniel Lowe (who, for his career, has an above-average flyball rate and a below-average ground ball rate). As it happened ,“It was a little bit uncomfortable to be honest. It doesn’t make sense that was a double. It doesn’t make sense that the right fielder was playing in center field with a lefty that was hitting. It doesn’t make sense that the right fielder was playing all the way in center field. That should have been a single. That shouldn’t have been a double. The runner should have been at third and not at home. I felt a little bit uncomfortable about that.”
That could be chalked up to typical venting after a tough loss. But when asked if he spoke with the coaching staff about the defensive configuration, he said the following:
“I don’t have to ask the coaches about that. I feel like baseball is a game of common sense. With me as a lefty pitcher, they don’t hit a lot of fly balls against me. If they do hit a fly ball, it’s going to either be a home run or in front…I feel the positioning, that wasn’t the positioning it was supposed to be when it was a lefty hitter against a lefty pitcher.”
And then came Tuesday night in Detroit. The Tigers, who earlier in the week announced that two-time Cy Young winner Skubal would miss at least two months with elbow surgery, and with Justin Verlander on the 15-day IL with hip inflammation, Casey Mize on the IL with a strained groin, Jackson Jobe out for the season after getting Tommy John surgery, Troy Melton down for at least 60 days with a strained elbow, Reese Olson out after shoulder surgery, Valdez allowed his frustration and temper to adversely affect his team.
Valdez had already allowed eight runs against the Red Sox in the first three innings when Willson Contreras crushed a 449-foot home run to left field. The next batter, Wilyer Abreu, hammered a 109-mph shot into the right field seats, giving Boston a 10-2 lead. The next pitch was a 94.4-mph four-seam fastball between the numbers on Trevor Story’s back. Story, the 11-year veteran, knows intent when he sees it*, and made a move towards the mound. Both benches emptied, although no punches were thrown. Valdez and manager AJ Hinch were immediately ejected. On Wednesday, the league handed down a five-game suspension for Valdez – meaning he will miss a start – and a one-gamer for Hinch.
*That was Valdez’s first four-seam fastball of the season. The last one he threw: last August when he hit Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela with a 95.5-mph version when trailing 6-1.
After the game, Hinch didn’t seem to be buying his pitcher’s “it was not intentional…there shouldn’t be a suspension in that situation” line of defense. Rather, the manager said:
“We play a really good brand of baseball here. That didn’t feel like it. It’s not judging intent; I have no idea. But I know when you go out on the field and you end up sort of in those confrontations, you usually feel like you’re in your right. And it didn’t feel good being out there. So, I understand [Boston’s] frustrations. I understand the moment, and it was a low moment of a frustrating night.”
Now the Tigers, fighting for the American League Central lead, find themselves down another pitcher when they least can afford that. And because it is a suspension, they cannot bring anyone up from Triple-A to fill the void; they have to play undermanned for those five games.
While playing in Houston, Valdez worked with a sports psychologist to get a better handle on his emotions on and off the field. The Tigers would do well to give the doctor a call, stat!