The Rays and Phillies had a scout at Foster Griffin‘s start yesterday, according to The Athletic’s Spencer Nusbaum. It isn’t surprising that the playoff contenders are keeping an eye on Griffin, who could be one of the most intriguing arms on the trade market….if the Nationals decide to move him at all.
Griffin gave up three earned runs on a walk and six hits over 6 2/3 innings, with two strikeouts. This quality start was actually a dip in Griffin’s current form, as it ended a streak of eight consecutive starts with no more than one earned run allowed. The left-hander now has a 2.76 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate, 45.5% grounder rate, and an excellent 5.6% walk rate over 124 innings, with a strong chase rate that somewhat offsets his middling strikeout and whiff rates.
A 3.75 SIERA, 82.9% strand rate, and .249 BABIP are other indicators that Griffin isn’t pitching quite as well as his bottom-line numbers imply. That said, Griffin (who turns 30 tomorrow) has been one of the finds of the season, as he has more than delivered on the one-year, $5.5MM deal he signed with the Nationals last winter. After posting a 6.75 ERA in eight innings and seven games with the Royals and Blue Jays from 2020-22, Griffin spent the next three seasons reinventing himself in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants, and the results have been evident.
If the Nationals struggled as expected this year, Griffin might well have already been traded in advance of the deadline. However, powered by perhaps baseball’s best offense, Washington has posted a 54-52 record and sit a game out of the final NL wild card slot. It isn’t out of the question that Griffin still gets moved, but doing so would greatly weaken an already subpar pitching staff.
While the team is still listening to offers on such notables as Griffin, CJ Abrams, or Luis Garcia Jr., the Nats might try to thread the needle by with some strategic buying and selling. We saw some of this in yesterday’s trade that sent Curtis Mead to the Red Sox for Connelly Early, as Washington sold high on Mead (a former top prospect who only broke out after joining the Nats in March) for another former top-100 prospect in Early who has already enjoyed some success since making his MLB debut last September.
Perhaps another such creative trade could be found with the Rays, who are no stranger to outside-the-box types of deals. Tampa has one of the top rotations in baseball on paper, but Shane Rasmussen’s durability is a question mark since injuries kept him from pitching in 2024-25, and both Griffin Jax and Ian Seymour have only been built up into starters during the season. Adding a proper starter in Griffin would help solidify the pitching staff, and give the Rays another starter that could viably start a playoff game.
The Phillies already have their postseason top three lined up in Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler, and Jesus Luzardo, but the struggles of Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter have left Philadelphia hunting for help at the back end of the rotation. While Griffin would be a fit here, it’s worth noting that the Nationals are only three games behind the Phillies for second place in the NL East, so Washington may have less interest in swinging a deal with a division rival.
