Framber Valdez thought he would hear from the team he played for his whole career. But the Houston Astros never called him to talk about a new contract. In September 2025, Valdez did something very strange on the field. He got mad and purposely confused his own catcher. Even after that, Valdez fully expected the Astros to want him back.

“I would have loved for my team of 8, 9 years to want me back,” said Framber Valdez ahead of his return to Houston in a Tigers uniform.

Framber Valdez is back in Houston this week, but this time he is wearing a different uniform. The former Astros ace returns to Daikin Park as a member of the Detroit Tigers after signing a three-year, $115 million contract during the offseason.

While the reunion brought back plenty of memories, it also reopened questions about why Houston never attempted to keep him.

Before the series began, Valdez revealed that the Astros never negotiated with him once free agency started. The left-hander admitted he would have preferred staying with the organization where he has spent most of his career. However, he also made it clear that he understands the business side of baseball and holds no resentment toward the club. And the expectation from Valdez was justified because with Houston, he had a career ERA of 3.36 with 1053 strikeouts. He also helped them win a World Series.

Yet despite leaving the only organization he had known, Valdez remains thankful for the opportunity Houston gave him.

“They gave me the opportunity to become the player that I am,” Valdez said, showing that gratitude still outweighs any disappointment surrounding his departure.

But there was one controversy that many might many believe led to his departure. During a game against the Yankees in September 2025, he found himself at the center of one of Houston’s most talked-about moments of the season.

After catcher César Salazar attempted to get him to step off the mound, Valdez threw a pitch that Trent Grisham turned into a grand slam. Moments later, Valdez crossed signals with Salazar and struck the catcher in the chest with a pitch. The sequence immediately drew attention across the world.

Many fans and analysts questioned whether frustration played a role in what happened after the grand slam. Valdez denied doing anything intentionally and later apologized to Salazar. The catcher also defended his pitcher, saying crowd noise likely contributed to the communication issues.

But the writing was on the wall for Valdez.

After that, many fans and insiders believed that it was the end of Valdez in Houston, especially with the massive contract he was asking for. That prediction proved accurate when the Houston Astros never presented him with an offer.

But was Detroit signing him the right choice?

Has signing Framber Valdez paid off for the Tigers?

The Detroit Tigers made one of the biggest moves of the offseason when they signed Framber Valdez. Detroit gave the left-hander a 3-year, $115 million contract in February. The expectation was clear because the Tigers wanted an ace for a postseason push. Through 14 starts, however, Valdez carried a 3-5 record and 4.40 ERA into his return to Houston.

Those numbers have made the first few months of the deal difficult to ignore.

Valdez’s 4.40 ERA ranks well above the level expected from a pitcher earning $38.3 million per season. His ground-ball rate has also fallen below the levels of his Astros times. Detroit enters Tuesday’s game against Houston with a 30-42 record despite the investment.

The June 10 loss against the Minnesota Twins showed many of those problems with Valdez in one night.

Valdez allowed four runs in five innings as Detroit lost the game 6-4. Royce Lewis hit a solo homer before Byron Buxton’s three-run blast changed everything. Those runs followed consecutive hit batters and erased momentum during a close game. That outing mattered because it reflected a larger pattern rather than one mistake.

Valdez has delivered flashes, like the game against the Royals, where he pitched seven innings and allowed only one run. But consistency has remained missing throughout his first season.

Meanwhile, Detroit continues fighting below .500 despite showing signs of improvement. Big free-agent signings are often judged alongside team results, not individual numbers. There is still time for the story around this signing to change.

Valdez remains a key piece as Detroit tries to climb back into contention. The Tigers are still just 6 games off a Wild Card spot, and if the team continues to win consistently, they will get the postseason spot.

And that is the only thing that could even slightly suggest that the Tigers’ signing was a success.