Yesterday, Paul Toboni made his first free agent addition by signing left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin from Japan. Griffin should strengthen the back end of a rotation that needs help after a rough 2025. With Griffin in the fold, will Paul Toboni continue to attack the starting pitching market?
Well, this could really go either way. On the one hand, the Nats have plenty of guys who can start games right now. MacKenzie Gore, Cade Cavalli, Foster Griffin, Brad Lord, Josiah Gray, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and Andrew Alvarez are all options to start games. However, they don’t have much proven quality and a potential MacKenzie Gore trade still looms.
If a Gore trade materializes and the package does not include MLB-ready pitching, the Nats will likely be forced back into the starting pitching market. It’s probably going to be a rebuilding year, but you should still have enough innings to get through a season. Without Gore the options start to get very light.
I still think a Gore trade is likely, despite the noise surrounding the move quieting down over the past week. The Gore market is held up by the logjam of top-tier starting pitchers. Once guys like Tatsuya Imai, Framber Valdez, Michael King and Ranger Suarez find homes, the Gore Market will become popular again. Right now, the pitching market is in a holding pattern.
If Gore ultimately leaves, the Nats will have to find a way to replace his innings. While Foster Griffin is an intriguing pickup, he isn’t the most durable guy in Japan. He has not thrown over 121 innings in each of his three seasons in the NPB. While Gore isn’t a 200-inning workhorse, he has done that thrown 166.1 and 159.2 innings over the past two seasons.
There are a few free agent innings eaters I would explore in this scenario. The first is a guy new pitching coach Simon Mathews knows in Nick Martinez. Since returning from Japan in 2022, Martinez has pitched at least 100 innings in each of the past four seasons.
He has done this in a hybrid role where he alternates between starter and swingman. Over the years, his role has been similar to Brad Lord’s last year. In 2025, Martinez made the majority of his appearances in the rotation for the first time since returning from Japan. He made 40 appearances, including 26 starts.
In that role, he logged 165.2 innings while posting a 4.45 ERA. He was much more successful in 2024, posting a 3.10 ERA in 142.1 innings pitched for the Reds. Martinez relies on generating soft contact to get out. That’s why he had success despite pitching in the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark.
At 35, Martinez would get a good veteran presence in the rotation to eat up innings. The Nats could promise him a role as a full-time starting pitcher, something Martinez would likely covet. That swingman role is valuable, but most pitchers prefer to be a true starting pitcher.
Martinez could get a one-year deal and eat about 165 innings. It won’t be anything flashy, but Martinez has one deep six pitch mix that can fool hitters. He can eat innings while still being more effective than guys like Parker or Irvin. His deal would probably be around 10-12 million for one year.
There’s another innings eater who played for the Reds who also intrigues me. Zack Littell is likely in the market for a multi-year deal, but I think he’s worth pulling the trigger on. Littell spent most of his career as a reliever, but has transformed into an innings-eating starter over the past two seasons.
Last season, Littell ate 186.2 innings while posting a solid 3.81 ERA. That was a solid follow-up to his first season as a full-time starter in 2024, when he posted an ERA of 3.63 in 156.1 innings. Again, he doesn’t do anything flashy, but Littell gets the job done.
Zack Littell is a command specialist. Last season he walked just 4.2% of batters arranged in the 98th percentile. He pounds the zone, but also creates a lot of chasing outside the zone. The stuff isn’t great, so he can get hit sometimes. Littell also has a pretty major home run problem, allowing more than 30 in each of the past two seasons.
In 2025, he pitched at two hitter-friendly parks in Cincinnati and the Rays’ temporary home, which is the same size as the Yankees’ stadium. Nationals Park may play small in the summer, but it is more of a neutral stadium.
Like Griffin and Martinez, Littell has a deep and unpredictable pitch mix. A deal for Littell would likely be $24 million within two years. Even if the budget isn’t huge, there’s no excuse for not being able to make that deal if you want the player.
There’s no guarantee the Nats will add starting pitching. That would likely happen if Gore is moved, but Paul Toboni could focus on improving from within. Guys like Irvin and Parker have the potential to be scorers with decent results, but they were bad last year.
Those guys both threw way too much with their fastballs. If they can expand their pitch mixes, they could be the ones eating at the back of the rotation innings. Irvin in particular is someone I really liked in 2024. If he can deepen his mix and regain some of the speed he’s lost, he could become a factor again.
However, that is no guarantee. Foster Griffin is a nice piece to add at the back of the rotation, but the job isn’t done yet. There’s a potential MacKenzie Gore trade coming that would shake up the Nats’ rotation. If Gore leaves and Paul Toboni opts for a return led by someone like Bryce Eldridge, the Nats will need to add more to the starting rotation.
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