The Athletics' need for pitching has been well covered since the team arrived in West Sacramento, and now with just one season left before their expected arrival in Las Vegas, finding answers on the mound is more important.

Ownership will be looking to drum up excitement as the club arrives in Sin City, and it's just harder to do that with a team that has been struggling. Improving the pitching staff is the quickest way to improve the club.

There are a few arms out there that look like good fits for the A's on the free-agent market like Clay Holmes, who we mentioned a couple of days ago. Another name that stands out is left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin. 

Griffin, 31, was a first-round selection of the Kansas City Royals in 2014 and made his brief MLB debut with the club in 2020, and by 2023 he was pitching in NPB, where he spent three seasons dominating with a 2.54 ERA across 315 ⅔ innings of work. 

He returned to Major League Baseball in 2026, signing as a free agent with the Washington Nationals, and he finished with a 3.06 ERA (4.10 FIP) before being traded to the Cleveland Guardians at the deadline. The lefty ended up posting a 5.19 ERA (3.54 FIP) in his time with Cleveland before hitting free agency this winter.

The folks over at MLB Trade Rumors have Griffin projected for a three-year contract worth $39 million, good for an average annual value of $13 million. Meanwhile, The Athletic has him projected for a two-year deal worth $34 million, good for a $17 million average annual value. In either scenario, that should be an affordable contract for the A's to take on this pivotal offseason, and if it takes that third year, they should give it to him.

The simple reason is that Griffin produced the two traits the A's are after this winter: he kept the ball on the ground at a high rate and he limited walks better than nearly any pitcher on the A's staff in 2026.

Griffin's ground-ball rate finished at 44.7% on the year, ranking him in the 68th percentile. The A's ranked last in ground-ball rate as a team in 2026 at 38%, so Griffin would be a good first step in the right direction. Meanwhile, Holmes had the highest ground-ball rate of any starting pitcher at 60.7%. 

The simple reason for wanting a ground-ball pitcher is to limit the number of home runs the pitching staff allows while playing at a hitter-friendly ballpark. The A's pitching staff also surrendered the most home runs in baseball last season. 

That's why limiting walks (i.e., baserunners) is also important. Griffin's 6.2% walk rate would have been bested by just Brady Basso (5% in 43 innings), Joel Kuhnel (5.6% in 25 ⅔ innings with the A's, no longer with the club), and Scott Blewett (6% in 35 ⅓ innings). None of the trio came close to Griffin's 172 ⅔ innings, however. 

The money is right for a team like the A's, and the attributes they're after are ones he possesses. 

A's new President of Baseball Operations Taylor Smith was hired away from the Boston Red Sox this offseason, and had served as the team's senior vice president and assistant general manager before being hired by the A's. 

The Washington Nationals also found their POBO from the Red Sox, hiring Paul Toboni last offseason after he'd been one of Boston's senior vice presidents and assistant general managers. 

They held the same titles with the Red Sox, and were part of the same learning tree in Craig Breslow's front office. Toboni and the Nationals also decided to sign Griffin last winter to a one-year, $5.5 million contract with $1 million in incentives. 

It's not difficult to imagine that Toboni and Smith have a similar way of evaluating talent given their connections to Boston, and given the A's pitching needs and more limited funds, Griffin makes a lot of sense for what they're trying to accomplish.