Cade Cavalli signs 4-year, $47M Nationals extension

Cade Cavalli's path to a big payday was never supposed to run through Tommy John surgery, a lost 2023 season and a setback-riddled 2024. But the Nationals just bet big that the guy who clawed back from all of it is their ace for the rest of the decade.

Robert Murray first reported the two sides were closing in on a deal, and Mark Zuckerman filled in the stakes almost immediately: this would buy out at least one of Cavalli's free agent years, with the right-hander still years away from hitting the open market on his own.

Friday it became official. Zuckerman confirmed the Nationals signed Cavalli to a 4-year extension covering 3 arbitration years and 1 year of what would've been free agency, tacked with a club option for 2031.

The money landed shortly after: $47 million guaranteed, and a max of $70 million if Washington exercises that 2031 option, per Spencer Nusbaum. That's a real financial commitment for a franchise that hasn't handed a pitcher anything beyond a 2-year deal since it locked up Stephen Strasburg following the 2019 World Series run.

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The Nationals have finalized a four-year contract extension with Cade Cavalli that includes a club option for 2031. The deal is worth $47M guaranteed and $70M if the option is picked up, per @SpencerNusbaum_.

The extension is also a vote of confidence for a guy who spent most of his 20s rehabbing instead of pitching. Washington's 22nd overall pick in 2020, Cavalli tore his elbow in March 2023 and missed the entire season, then dealt with more setbacks in 2024 before finally getting back to the majors last year. He posted a 4.25 ERA in 10 late-season starts in 2025 — solid, but nothing that screamed extension money.

This year changed that math completely. Cavalli made 31 starts, threw 164 2/3 innings and put up a 3.12 ERA with 194 strikeouts and a 12-5 record, numbers that have him in the mix for National League Cy Young conversations. For a franchise still rebuilding around its young core, buying low on a pitcher this good before he could test the market is exactly the kind of move that ages well.