Rehab start at Toledo next on the docket for Tigers' Jack Flaherty

DETROIT – The question has been asked, why is Jack Flaherty working so hard to get back in a season where the playoff chase is all but over? Why are the Tigers encouraging him so strongly to do so?

"The motivation is obvious for him," manager AJ Hinch said. "He's going to be a free agent at the end of the year. He needs to demonstrate health and we need him to be good."

It's more than that to Flaherty. He has said throughout his rehab process from a flexor tendon strain, that he feels a debt to this organization and to his teammates. He signed a contract and he wants to honor that contract to the end. And that commitment works both ways.

"We owe it to Jack to do this responsibly," Hinch said. "You give him an opportunity to demonstrate health and quality and he's doing that in these (rehab) sessions. Anyone who looks at him and how his September has gone is going to have a lot of information."

Flaherty, coming off an impressive, two-inning sim game Saturday, Sept. 12 , will accompany the Tigers to Toronto this week and continue to throw his bullpens and physical therapy routine. When the team goes to Chicago , he is expected to join Triple-A Toledo for a rehab start.

He would be eligible for activation after that.

"It's important for the organization to honor the work that he's done and he's done a ton to push to get back," Hinch said.

The hard part will be integrating him back into the mix. He won't be built up to start nor, coming off the injury, could he be used as a regular reliever.

"It's really hard to carry the one-to-two-inning starter routine with a reliever role," Hinch said. "Yesterday (Sept. 12) was a good example. We're using a lot of pitching, mixing and matching and that doesn't bode well for a rehabbing starting pitcher who hasn't built up to be a starter. And certainly, coming off his injury, he's not going to be a standard reliever."

That's why Flaherty has stayed on a five-day routine, doing bullpens in between what would be his competition days. Flaherty will probably be able to pitch in two- or three-inning stints. Thus, he could be used as an extended opener.

But with the season ending out, it might just be one or two outings.

"We're carrying a sixth starter right now," Hinch said, referencing rookie Andrew Sears. "That leaves us with an eight-man bullpen when other teams have nine. So we've been cautious about his rehab in general just because it was an injury. But his role has had to be massaged a little bit, too.

But if any manager can accommodate some pitching chaos, it's Hinch.