Source: The Washington Nationals and Cade Cavalli are in advanced talks for a contract extension that would buy-out Cavalli’s 3 remaining arbitration years as well as free agent years. Cavalli is repped by Jay Franklin of BBI. Coincidentally, Franklin got his start as an employee at the Boras Agency before he went out on his own.
Cavalli, 28, went from a forgettable debut at the end of August in 2022 with a 7-run disaster, and not only did he pitch poorly — but he also tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow that required TJ surgery. Cavalli would miss all of the 2023 and 2024 seasons and didn’t return to the MLB until nearly three years after the injury.
In 2025, Cavalli’s season was a middling 4.25 ERA of a two month sample size. This year, Cavalli was Super-2 eligible for salary arbitration because he was accruing MLB service time while injured and on rehab. He signed a $4 million deal for next year for his second year of arbitration and the 2028 and 2029 years would be his final two years of team control.
This season’s second half has seen Cavalli emerge as an ace with a 3.12 ERA overall with 194 strikeouts in 164.2 innings. On June 20, Cavalli was still trying to figure everything out with a new cutter, and he had a 4.07 ERA at the time. But since that point, Cavalli has mastered the cutter, and changed the shape of his knuckle-curve to give him a much-needed putaway pitch. His ERA was a miniscule 2.27 in his past 16 games.
Cavalli ranks as the 6th best pitcher in that span and coincidentally, Kyle Leahy is the 2nd best pitcher in that timeframe, and he and Cavalli will face-off tomorrow in St. Louis.
If Cavalli’s extension is completed, that gives the Nationals more certainty for what could be shaping up as a window of contention. James Wood is team-controlled through the 2030 season, and that gives the Nats a projection with some of their top prospects who should start matriculating to the big leagues in 2027 to 2029.
Right now, the only locks for next season’s starting rotation are Cavalli and Andrew Alvarez. You hope that the team can count on Connelly Early, DJ Herz, and others to that mix. The jury is still out on Jake Irvin and Jackson Kent. Then there is Josiah Gray who is set to pitch for the Nats this weekend. Certainly that is a lot of question marks to go around.
In the minors, Travis Sykora will be working his way back from his own TJ surgery, and he is the team’s top prospect pitcher. And there is still the debate over what Jarlin Susana will be as to whether he is a starter or a bullpen arm.
The obvious choice would be to sign a top free agent starting pitcher this offseason to add to the mix — and maybe two pitchers. This would certainly help the outlook on the 2027 season and beyond.
On the business side of Nationals Park, why did this wait for now? If the Nats did this a month ago, the excitement of this type of deal would have created a positive buzz, and consider that season ticket renewals were due on August 31 as well as attendance dropping — the timing is odd with only three home games remaining this season.
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