Foster Griffin's 2026 season has been one of the best surprise stories in baseball, and now it might be ending in Washington. Griffin, a 31-year-old lefty who signed a one-year, $5.5 million deal in December after spending three seasons pitching in Japan, has turned into an All-Star with a 12-2 record, a 2.76 ERA, 113 strikeouts and a 1.03 WHIP across 21 starts. Before this year, he'd appeared in just 7 MLB games total between 2020 and 2022. Now he's the best thing the Nationals have going on the mound, and it might cost them a fortune to keep him.
A Foster Griffin extension with the Nationals is "very unlikely," per source, making a potential trade a real possibility. More on Washington's All-Star starting pitcher, who could be making his last start for the club on Friday (with @JessicaCamerato): https://t.co/Odz9Bho62r
Feinsand's report lines up with what other beat writers have been hearing all week. Extension talks reportedly fizzled fast, and with Griffin already 31 and a pending qualifying-offer decision on the horizon worth roughly $22 million for 2027 — about 4 times his current salary — the Nationals appear more inclined to cash in now than pay up later. Washington has never exactly been known for opening the checkbook, and a rental-turned-ace who broke out of nowhere is precisely the kind of asset a rebuilding-adjacent front office looks to flip for controllable young talent.
The wrinkle here is that Washington is still technically in the Wild Card mix, and dealing Griffin away isn't a free roll. He and Cade Cavalli have been the backbone of the rotation's quality starts, so trading the guy with a sub-2.80 ERA gutting the staff's best arm while trying to hang around a playoff race is a real gamble. That's reportedly why the front office is still weighing whether to trade him or ride it out — the kind of split-the-difference dilemma that usually just means the trade market will decide it for them.
Friday looms as the deadline, and if Washington can't find (or doesn't like) the return, Griffin's next start could double as a goodbye tour in a Nationals jersey he's worn for all of one improbable season. Given how quickly he's gone from afterthought to trade chip, don't be shocked if this ends with him pitching in a different uniform by the weekend.