Yesterday, Paul Toboni made his first free agent addition, signing left handed pitcher Foster Griffin from Japan. Griffin should bolster 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 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 do not have much proven quality and a potential MacKenzie Gore trade still looms large.
If a Gore trade does come and the package does not include MLB ready pitching, the Nats will likely be forced back into the starting pitching market. It is likely to be a rebuilding year, but you still need to have enough innings to get through a season. Without Gore, the options begin to get very light.
I still think a Gore trade is likely despite the noise around the move calming down in the past week. The Gore market is being held up by the logjam of high end free agent starting pitchers. Once guys like Tatsuya Imai, Framber Valdez, Michael King and Ranger Suarez find homes, the Gore market will get hot again. Right now, the pitching market is in a holding pattern.
If Gore does end up leaving, the Nats are going to have to find a way to replace his innings. While Foster Griffin is an intriguing pickup, he has not been the most durable guy in Japan. He has not thrown more than 121 innings in any of his three seasons in the NPB. While Gore is not a 200 inning workhorse, he has thrown 166.1 and 159.2 innings in the last two seasons.
There are a couple free agent innings eaters I would explore in this scenario. The first one is a guy that new pitching coach Simon Mathews is familiar with in Nick Martinez. Since coming back from Japan in 2022, Martinez has thrown at least 100 innings in each of the last four seasons.
He has done this in a hybrid role where he alternates between being a starter and a swingman. Over the years, his role has been similar to what Brad Lord did last year. In 2025, Martinez made the majority of his appearances in the rotation for the first time since coming back from Japan. He made 40 appearances, with 26 of them being 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 for the Reds. Martinez relies on generating soft contact to get outs. That is why he had success despite pitching in the hitter friendly Great American Ballpark.
At 35, Martinez would get a good veteran to put in the rotation to eat innings. The Nats could promise him a role as a full time starting pitcher, something Martinez would probably covet. That swingman role is valuable, but most pitchers prefer being a real starting pitcher.
Martinez could come in on a one-year deal and eat about 165 innings. It will not be anything flashy, but Martinez has a deep six pitch mix that can fool hitters. He can eat innings while being more effective than guys like Parker or Irvin. His deal would probably be about 10-12 million for one year.
There is another innings eater who played for the Reds that also intrigues me. Zack Littell is likely in the market for a multi-year deal, but I think he is worth pulling the trigger on. Littell spent most of his career as a reliever, but has transformed into an innings-eating starter over the last 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 a 3.63 ERA in 156.1 innings. Again, he does not do anything flashy, but Littell gets the job done.
Zack Littell is a command specialist. Last season, he only walked 4.2% of hitters, which ranked in the 98th percentile. He pounds the zone, but also generates plenty of chase outside the zone. The stuff is not great, so he can get hit around at times. Littell also has a pretty big home run problem, allowing over 30 in each of the last two seasons.
In 2025, he pitched in two hitter friendly parks in Cincinnati and the Rays temporary home which has the same dimensions as Yankees stadium. Nationals Park can play small in the summer time, 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 come in the two-year $24 million range. Even if the budget is not huge, there is no excuse for not being able to make that deal if you want the player.
There is no guarantee that the Nats add starting pitching. It would probably happen if Gore is moved, but Paul Toboni could focus on improving from within. Guys like Irvin and Parker have the potential to be innings eaters with decent results, but they were bad last year.
Both of those guys threw their fastballs way too much. If they can expand their pitch mixes, they could be those back of the rotation innings eaters. Irvin in particular is someone I really liked in 2024. If he can deepen his mix and find some of the velocity he lost, he could become a factor again.
However, that is no guarantee. Foster Griffin is a nice piece to add to the back of the rotation, but the job is not finished yet. There is a potential MacKenzie Gore trade coming that would shake up the Nats rotation in a big way. If Gore goes and Paul Toboni opts for a return led by a guy like Bryce Eldridge, the Nats will need to add more to the starting rotation.
