Washington Nationals sign former Toronto Blue Jays left-hander

According to Robert Murray of FanSided, the Nationals are going to sign left-hander Foster Griffin to a one-year, $5.5MM contract with another $1MM in incentives.

It was reported earlier today that Griffin had fielded offers from several different teams, and now it looks the Nationals had the best offer.

Griffin, now 30, got some brief major league action a few years ago. He made seven appearances, split between the Royals and Blue Jays, over the 2020 and 2022 seasons.

He has spent the past three years in Japan, pitching for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, with great success.

He tossed 315 2/3 innings over those three campaigns, allowing 2.57 earned runs per nine.

He struck out 25.1% of batters faced, only gave out walks to 5.1% of opponents and kept about half of balls in play on the ground. In 2025, a leg injury limited him to just 78 innings but it was his best season in terms of run prevention.

He posted a 1.62 ERA with a 25.1% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 48.9% grounder rate.

Despite the solid numbers, there are some questions about whether how his stuff will translate to North American ball.

Griffin's fastball only sits in the low 90s, fairly soft by modern standards. He succeeds with a deep arsenal which also includes a slider, cutter, changeup, splitter, curveball and two-seamer.

It has been a relatively busy winter in terms of guys returning to North America after stints overseas.

Cody Ponce got $30MM over three years from the Blue Jays, while the White Sox gave another former Blue Jay Anthony Kay $12MM over two years.