With president of baseball operations Paul Toboni making clear the starting pitching is a focus, who could the Nationals go after?
The Nationals are in desperate need of reinforcements for their pitching staff after trading away their former ace Mackenzie Gore to the Texas Rangers. Without him, the rotation is lacking any left handed presence or, really, any star power.
While there aren’t any Max Fried-level arms in this year’s free agency class, there are some starters who can help beef up a relatively lean group in the nation’s capital. From reclamation projects with high upside to an established southpaw with a championship pedigree, here are four pitchers who can help shore up the unit.
1) Walker Buehler, RHP, 31 years old
In a thin free agent pitching market, betting on upside may be the best play Washington has going into the 2026 season; while Walker Buehler’s recent results have been far from ideal, the departure from the Phillies is oozing with it.
It might seem like a distant memory, but it’s only been a few years since Buehler was seen as one of the most promising young arms in baseball. With the Dodgers in 2021, he started a league-high 33 games and posted a similarly league-leading ERA+ of 171 (100 is average). He did that while allowing less than a baserunner per inning and striking out more than ten batters per nine innings.
Since then, though, Buehler’s production has fallen off a cliff. He followed that stellar 2021 campaign with a Tommy-John shortened, and incredibly average, 2022. After missing all of 2023, Buehler returned from his hiatus to post the two worst seasons of his career, posting a 74 ERA+ in 2024 and an 84 in 2025.
Despite the down years, some of Buehler’s underlying statistics indicate that a bounce back is possible. He has decent enough velocity on his four-seam fastball (averages 94 mph) and sinker (averages 93.8 mph) and generates relatively low average exit velocities. With the right set of circumstances, there’s a path back to being a productive, even high-level, rotation piece.
With his recent struggles, Buehler is far from a sure thing. But for a Nationals rotation missing the type of high ceiling that he provides, the 31-year-old could be a low-cost, high-reward acquisition.
2) Framber Valdez, LHP, 32 years old
The idea behind pursuing Valdez is simple. He’s a left-handed pitcher (one of only two on the market), has a championship pedigree, eats innings to the tune of roughly 200 per season and has been well above average in all but one of his Major League seasons.
As it stands right now, Washington’s rotation is devoid of a southpaw presence or any consistent high-level production. Valdez would help address both of those concerns and would serve as the unquestioned ace of an unproven staff. The Nationals probably aren’t ready to contend yet, but the former Astro would bring the type of winning presence that could guide the team toward that goal in the future. In addition to the optics and the standard counting stats, Valdez is consistently well-above- average to elite in advanced stats like pitching run value and is among the top starters in the league when it comes to generating ground balls.
The downside to going after Valdez is just as simple as the upside: the cost. All of the things that make him a perfect fit for Washington also make him a perfect fit for countless teams in need of a starting pitching upgrade. Who doesn’t need a high-end southpaw with World Series experience? The market for Valdez is going to be competitive, and in a free agent class largely lacking in lefties, it may be even more so. Is paying a premium for championship-level talent worth it when you’re not yet ready to make a run at a championship?
If they can get him for the right price, though, Ani Kilambi and the rest of the Nationals front office should jump on the opportunity to acquire Valdez.
3) Tyler Anderson, LHP, 36 years old
If the Nationals can’t get Valdez, or if his price becomes too prohibitive, former Angels starter Tyler Anderson could be a fallback option to add a left-handed arm to the rotation. He’s not a long-term fit, as he’s already 36 years old, but he has a history of steady production.
Throughout his ten seasons in the bigs, Anderson has posted five seasons above a 100 ERA+, peaking at 157 with the Dodgers in 2022 and 137 in Colorado in 2016. His five years that fell below the league-average of 100 only included one truly bad season, which came in 2023 with the Angels. Anderson’s other below-average seasons (save for one injury-marred campaign in 2019) were between 90 and 100 ERA+.
Beyond his production, Anderson brings some volume. He has consistently eaten a decent number of innings for the teams he has played for, peaking in the high 170s. The ability to stay on the mound as a starter takes pressure off of the bullpen, especially as a season gets deeper and injuries pile up.
Anderson is coming off a relatively pedestrian year, one in which he gave up a lot of home runs, to the tune of 1.8 per nine innings, but got some good batted-ball luck and finished with an ERA (4.56) far below his FIP (5.60)
If the right deal can be reached, ideally a short-term one, Anderson would be a solid, low-risk option to add a lefty to Washington’s rotation.
4) Martín Pérez, LHP, 34 years old
Similar to Anderson, former White Sox starter Martín Pérez represents a backup option to add a left-handed arm to the rotation if acquiring Valdez isn’t feasible. Pérez is coming off of an injury-shortened campaign as a flexor strain limited him to ten starts.
In those ten starts, though, Pérez was very productive. He dealt his way to a 3.54 ERA and a 119 ERA+, indicating that, prior to his injury, he was performing at a well-above league-average level.
Pérez doesn’t have much velocity, throwing his four-seamer and sinker at an average south of 90 mph, but he possesses a five-pitch mix and is good at generating soft contact. He’s not an ace by any means, but he’s a steady veteran who will give you decent production; over his fourteen-year career, Pérez’ ERA+ has sat at an even 100, exactly average.
The weakness in Pérez’ game is that he allows a good amount of traffic on the base paths. His career WHIP is 1.434, and he gives up slightly more hits and walks on a rate basis than most starters. The fact that he’s managed to keep his career ERA in the ballpark of league average (4.41) speaks to his ability to get out of tough spots.
He’s not an exciting pickup, and he probably won’t be contending for any awards, but Pérez would offer stability. He’s someone you can trust to give you some decent innings. Like Anderson, he’s not a long-term solution, but any team can use experienced starters who can eat some innings without getting blown up.