DETROIT — When the Detroit Tigers signed Framber Valdez during the offseason, the move came with an emotional jolt. This, it seemed, was the Tigers making an aggressive push. This was the Tigers finally spending like a big-market club.Pairing Valdez with Tarik Skubal threatened to give the Tigers’ rotation the best 1-2 punch in the American League. The team committed to Valdez on a three-year, $115 million deal. The contract term was shorter than the industry first projected. It was nonetheless the biggest deal president of baseball operations Scott Harris has handed out in his Detroit tenure.Valdez is making $38.3 million per year, trailing only the Philadelphia Phillies’ Zach Wheeler ($42 million) among starting pitchers in average annual value.Valdez said Monday that his previous team, the Houston Astros, never made efforts to bring him back.“They did not make any contact with me,” he said through an interpreter. “I would have loved for my team of eight, nine years to call me back and stay home. But it’s a part of the business. I understand it.”Through 14 starts with the Tigers, the Valdez signing hasn’t gone according to plan. He has a 4.40 ERA. His most memorable moment has been a hit-by-pitch that resulted in a five-game suspension. Although he impressed with quality efforts in spring training and through much of April, Valdez surrendered eight runs April 8 against the Twins. He surrendered seven earned runs May 5 against the Red Sox.Considered the game’s best at generating groundballs, Valdez’s 49.6 ground-ball rate is the lowest of his career. Opponents are hitting .297 against his signature sinker.In his most recent outing against the Twins — when Valdez had to sit through a 67-minute rain delay after the first inning — he gave up four earned runs over five innings.Now prepared to face his former team Tuesday night in Houston, the Tigers are hoping he can recapture his form.“Execution is the easiest thing to go to, especially in some odd moments,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said after the Twins start. “We get to two outs or two strikes. Oftentimes, we’ve just had a hard time putting hitters away. Now it’s not all of them, because he’s gone through stretches where it’s three up, three down. … But the odd hit by pitches tonight right before the homers, the two-out homer in there; there was a two-out base hit, a two-out walk. Getting through the innings clean has been difficult for him.”What’s most concerning, perhaps, is that Valdez’s steady strengths have become less consistent. The sinker that had a plus-16 run value last season has a run value of plus-1 so far this year. Opponents are hitting the ball in the air 24.8 percent of the time, the highest rate in his career.