If only it was that easy to write an 8-figure check, as an employer, who hasn’t done that in years with a new hire. Yes, we have written this before back on May 27 that the Lerner ownership group has a golden opportunity to extend left-hander Foster Griffin. By procrastinating, they have cost themselves millions more in money.

Griffin, a 2026 All-Star, has been a revelation for the Washington Nationals following his one-year deal for this season. With a Nats’ record of eight consecutive starts allowing one run or fewer and a 2.68 ERA over his first 20 starts, securing the 30-year-old rookie long-term provides a possible solution into the future for a top-of-the-rotation starter.

“At this point in time, I’m a pitcher for the Nats. Nothing has been approached to me as of yet. I’m open to anything, honestly. I have an agency (Excel Sports Management) that will take care of all that. We’ll see where the rest of the year takes me.”

— Griffin told Grant Paulsen at the All-Star game

Of course there is risk in extending a player with first signs of success at the MLB level. And age is a factor also. As the definition goes, Griffin is a finesse pitcher who relies on a 7-pitch repertoire and not an upper 90’s fastball and over-powering strikeout kind of stuff. That scares some GMs to be honest. Usually age dampens aging pitchers who rely on ‘stuff’ as any change in spin and velo can effect the results. But what deal doesn’t come with risk?

There is also a distinct reality that Griffin could be traded regardless of the Nats playoff chances since he is playing on a contract that expires in less than four months. The Nats have a few choices with Griffin:

1. Extend Griffin’s contract
2. Retain Griffin for the remainder of the 2026 season
3. Retain Griffin for the remainder of the 2026 season and tag him with a Q.O.
4. Trade Griffin for the best offer you receive
5. Trade Griffin for the best offer you receive then re-sign him after the season

As we wrote last week, we believe that a 3-year $50 million deal is in the ballpark of what could be a reasonable contract extension for Griffin. Add a lucrative 4ᵗʰ year team option on the back of it for $25 million with a $5 million buy-out and that Griffin deal is really worth $55 million at an AAV of close to $18.33 million.

If team president, Paul Toboni, and the ownership group want to create some excitement, start with that deal. That is the golden opportunity for the Lerners — regardless of whether or not there is a lockout of the 2027 season. And since the Nationals are so far below any spending floor of the proposed CBA, a deal like this won’t greatly impact future plans.

In fact, at the proposed CBA $171 million spending floor, the Nats are at least $90 million under that minimal level if we project the roster at season’s end. By the way, Griffin is currently earning $5.5 million so the net increase of an extension is about $13 million based on our figures, and that would still leave the Nats about $77 million below the cap. That is where there is money to extend James Wood and add others in free agency.

In May, Toboni, appeared on The Front Office show on MLB Network Radio, and was straight up asked if he has engaged in extension talks with young stars like Wood or CJ Abrams who were teammates with Griffin on this year’s All-Star team. Toboni responded about extension talks, ❝Those are conversations that we will keep internal.❞ Coincidentally, this week, Toboni appeared again on the Sports Junkies radio show and was asked a similar question and gave an almost identical answer.

The complications with a Wood and/or an Abrams extension is that the team has probably waited too long and almost certainly should wait for a new CBA as a hard cap system will make it easier for a team far below the cap to sign top players in the short-term of a new CBA. The issue going back to the prior front office is that you cannot wait for players to prove they are stars — you extend them when you believe they will be stars.

And besides all of that, Wood is tethered to the Boras agency, and their reputation is that they rarely will do an extension with a player as they prefer to get into open-market bidding in free agency. There are exceptions to that like Stephen Strasburg‘s deal with the Nationals that he quickly opted-out of and chose free agency after the 2019 World Series season, but that extension was rare for a Boras client.

What about Abrams? He is already making millions in arbitration. What incentive would he have to do an extension? Abrams is repped by Roc Nation Sports. There were even rumors that the Nats discussed an extension during Spring Training of 2025 and nothing got done. In fact, if you go back four years ago, my suggestion in an article on the subject was to extend Abrams back in 2022. Many disagreed with me at the time. Now you all wish it was done back then. Foresight is the key. Hindsight is easy.

Remember, “it takes two to tango,” was a much-used saying from former Nats’ GM, Mike Rizzo. And the team went down that road with Juan Soto in 2022 and offered him $440 million reportedly — the largest offer ever to a baseball player (at the time), and Soto turned it down. Hindsight says Soto was smart to do it since he eventually signed the largest deal in baseball history. 

Do we expect the Lerners to greenlight an extension? No. We just think that they have a great opportunity to create excitement for the fanbase and in turn that might help sell some sponsorships and raise attendance. That could give them a nice windfall in the near-term and they could easily pay for this all by finally selling the stadium naming rights!