It took six days to make the rumored signing of Foster Griffin official, and by doing so, President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, has now signed his first MLB free agent during his Nats’ tenure. The lefty pitcher had success in his three years in Japan.
With Trevor Williams expected to start the season on the 60-day IL, Griffin also gets penciled in as the oldest member of the pitching staff at the ripe age of 30. A former 1st round pick in the 2014 draft, he began his career in the KC Royals organization and was eventually traded to the Toronto Blue Jays. Between the two teams, he pitched in seven career games, all in the bullpen. Griffin then signed with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan and found success with a combined career 2.57 ERA in Japan — and that is a mark which is better than what Shota Imanaga finished with in Japan at 3.18.
In his NPB career, Griffin went 18–10 with that 2.57 ERA, and had 9.1 strikeouts per 9.0 innings and 2.0 walks per 9.0 innings in his 54 starts from 2023–25. A NPB Central League All-Star in 2025, Griffin went 6–1 with a 1.52 ERA, 87 strikeouts, 22 walks and just one home run allowed in 89.0 innings across 17 starts last season.
The Nationals signed a cost-effective piece, whether MacKenzie Gore is traded or not. The rumored salary is $5.5 million for Griffin in his 1-year deal. Griffin is a 6’3 lefty, by the way. He is a finesse pitcher who said he learned two new pitches in Japan, and will bring a splitter and a sweeper back to the MLB in his expanded repertoire.
“Where my head goes first [for new acquisitions] is pitching — starting pitching and relief pitching. That’s not to say that’s the only positions we’re going to tether ourselves to — but I think that’s probably the most realistic avenue.”
— Toboni said at the Winter Meetings
A quick look at the 40-man roster, and the Nats are now at 39 players, but could have another spot open up if Sauryn Lao is released, based on rumors that he was offered a contract in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters per Mike Deportes on X. com.
The current status of the Nats pitching staff has two injured pitchers as mentioned with Williams as well as DJ Herz. Based on the trade for Luis Perales, the Nats’ minor league starting pitcher depth on the 40-man roster is now Perales, Riley Cornelio, Jake Eder, and Andry Lara.
Today’s rotation has Andrew Alvarez, Cade Cavalli, Gore, Josiah Gray, Griffin, Jake Irvin, Brad Lord, and Mitchell Parker all in the mix of the eight main characters competing for starter’s spots — unless Toboni and his staff have different ideas — and you would expect that if Gore is traded that number becomes seven, and one or two pitchers from that list go to the bullpen as a long-man leaving five — or one of them goes to Triple-A as depth. In all, maybe Gore, Cavalli and Griffin are the only names, for today, that you would pencil in for the 2026 starting rotation.
But then again, there could always be pitcher(s) coming back in a potential Gore trade. At this point, Toboni has been proven to be unpredictable. That makes for a nervous roster. Who could be traded next?
FanGraphs added Griffin into the mix at a +2.0 WAR over only 143.0 innings, and ratcheted the win total up to 75.06 wins given the .463 winning percentage. A couple more acquisitions of players of impact, and the Nats can leapfrog some teams. The Vegas lines are 68-70 wins.
The Harry Ford and Griffin acquisitions moved the needle up. They have Ford contributing +0.8 to this 2026 season as the team’s best catcher.
Where FanGraphs shows room for improvement on the 2026 Nats roster is the need to add upgraded pitching, and of course first base. While there is plenty of available pitching, there are still too many 0.0 WAR projected pitchers.
On dollars, the Nats are just under $60 million for active payroll, and just under $95 million when you add in Stephen Strasburg‘s payroll hit. On the CBT payroll, the Nats are at $115 million. And that puts the team exactly $25 million under the 2025 Opening Day payroll of $140 million.
History of Pitchers returning to the MLB from Asia
The list is getting longer for pitchers who went from the MLB to Asia and back to the MLB. Most saw at least a first year of success when they returned to MLB. Here are five recent examples:
Miles Mikolas (RHP): After MLB stints (2012-14), he dominated in Japan (NPB) with the Yomiuri Giants (2015-17) before returning to MLB with the Cardinals (2018-present), becoming an All-Star.
Colby Lewis (RHP): Pitched in MLB (2002-07), then thrived in Japan (2008-09) with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, and returned to MLB success with the Rangers (2010-16).
Erick Fedde (RHP): After MLB years (2017-22), he pitched in Korea (KBO) in 2023, returned to MLB in 2024 with the White Sox, and excelled, showing the path is viable.
Merrill Kelly (RHP): Spent years in Korea (KBO, 2015-18) before returning to MLB with the Diamondbacks (2019-present), becoming a key starter and All-Star.
Chris Flexen (RHP): A former Mets starter who significantly raised his profile with strong performances in the KBO before signing a big MLB deal with the Mariners.
Future Plan
With the money that Toboni just saved by signing Griffin, he could add another starter or spend his money on the bullpen and a first baseman. You do that, and this might be a team that won’t blow the hard work of the starting pitchers via a shoddy bullpen like we saw in 2025.
The Griffin deal was first reported by Robert Murray of FanSided.com.
