The Philadelphia Phillies have the 11th-best starter ERA in baseball, but the last spot in the rotation is holding them back.
Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo and Aaron Nola have been fine, but the Phillies need another arm. They had a scout in attendance for Foster Griffin's last start for the Washington Nationals, according to The Athletic's Spencer Nusbaum.
Griffin had a quality start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday. He went 6 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs. He issued one walk and had two strikeouts. He has a 2.76 ERA in 21 starts this season after spending the last three seasons in Japan. He was an All-Star in Japan in 2025. He had a 1.62 ERA in 14 starts last season and notched 77 strikeouts.
He earned a one-year deal with the Nationals and is set to be a free agent in a few months. He is a prime trade candidate and would make the Phillies' rotation even better. The rotation is already great, but leaning into their strength could set them up for a deep run in October. However, there may be concerns about Griffin's underlying metrics.
His expected ERA is 3.90, which is much higher than his actual ERA. His fastball velocity is in the 10th percentile, but his fastball run-value is in the 96th percentile. Even if his actual numbers do not tell the whole story, he would be an upgrade over the Phillies' current options to round out the rotation.
The 31-year-old does not walk many batters and would be a solid arm to add. He could come out of the bullpen if needed in October when the rotation shrinks.