Guardians acquire All-Star Griffin from Nationals
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- Cleveland Guardians acquired left-hander Foster Griffin from the Washington Nationals, sending LHPs Will Dion and Josh Hartle, RHP Kendeglys Virguez, and outfielder Nick Mitchell the other way.
- Griffin, 31, is 12-3 with a 3.06 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 116 strikeouts in 22 starts this season and was a first-time All-Star selection.
- Griffin spent the prior three seasons with Japan's Yomiuri Giants, where he allowed just one home run across 78 innings in 2025 before returning to MLB.
- Griffin is eligible for free agency after this season and works off a cutter-heavy seven-pitch mix despite a modest 91.4 mph average fastball, ranking among NL leaders with a .226 batting average against.
- On the same deadline day, Cleveland also landed outfielder Jo Adell from the Los Angeles Angels and designated hitter Nathaniel Lowe from the Cincinnati Reds, sending RHP Alejandro Rivera to Cincinnati.
- Lowe, 31, is hitting .266 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs in 83 games and carries an .855 OPS against right-handed pitching.
- Cleveland entered Monday in second place in the AL Central, three games behind the Chicago White Sox.
Why it matters: Cleveland used a four-prospect package to land Griffin, a rental starter who hits free agency after this season, while sitting three games out of first place in the AL Central — a clear buyer's deadline from a contender that also added a bat in Lowe and outfield depth in Adell. Griffin is giving up more home runs this year (19 in 129⅓ innings) than he did in his entire 2025 NPB workload, a tradeoff the Guardians are accepting for his strikeout totals and All-Star resume.
