The A’s have spent most of this season trying to patch together a pitching staff that hasn’t held up its end of the bargain. The bullpen has been shaky, and the rotation hasn’t delivered the kind of innings the club needed. Losing Luis Severino in May after his start against his former team only made that problem worse, and several of the other Opening Day starters have also fallen short.
That’s why J.T. Ginn has become such an important piece.
He was left off the All-Star roster, but he has been the most reliable arm in the rotation. Right now, the A’s are leaning on Ginn while sorting through a group that also includes Gage Jump and the question marks in Aaron Civale, Jeffrey Springs, and Jack Perkins.
If Oakland is looking for outside help, Foster Griffin stands out as a fit.
The Nationals signed the left-hander to a one-year, $5.5 million deal this past offseason after he spent three seasons pitching in Japan. He’ll be a free agent after this year, but he has given Washington plenty to like. Griffin returned to the States with a four-pitch mix and has since expanded that into a seven-pitch arsenal, and the results have been strong.
He owns a 2.87 ERA across 103.1 innings this season, a huge jump from the stretch before it, when he had thrown just eight big league innings from 2020-2022. His stuff has changed dramatically, and so has his role.
For the A’s, that kind of arm would fit cleanly into a rotation that already has one of the better offenses in baseball backing it up. The lineup has done its part; the staff just needs more dependable pitching to push the team back toward contention.
Severino’s return would help, but there’s no clear timetable for that, which makes outside additions even more important. Griffin would immediately deepen the rotation and, at least on paper, give the A’s one of their best starters.
Jamie Arnold has also been dealing in Double-A and could be part of the rotation picture down the road, ideally alongside more left-handed experience like Jump, Springs, and maybe Griffin.
If Oakland does make a move for Griffin, the next question would be whether the club tries to keep him around. With free agency coming after the season, he’s positioned to draw plenty of interest and likely plenty of money.
In Other News...
As Draft Focus Is Creating Real Tension Around The No. 8 Pick
With the eighth pick in the MLB Draft, the Athletics are in a spot where the board could push them in a few different directions, but pitching remains the clearest thread. Two left-handers keep surfacing in that conversation: Hunter Dietz, the Arkansas college arm with a polished mix and real upside, and Gio Rojas, the high-schooler whose stuff has already put him among the classs most intriguing pitchers. The As have plenty to weigh, and the appeal of adding another arm with starter traits is obvious given where they are in the draft.
Dietz brings the safer feel of a college pitcher, while Rojas offers the kind of ceiling that can make a front office lean in if the draft starts breaking a certain way. Oakland could still pivot if the names ahead of them create a different opening, and there are other bats and arms in the mix as the first round unfolds. For now, though, the tension is less about whether the As want pitching and more about which type of pitcher they trust most when their turn finally arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Athletics All-Star Breakthrough Could Change Everything For This Young Core
Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers have given the Athletics something they have not always had enough of in recent years: rising young talent with national recognition. Both earned All-Star bids this season, and Kurtzs selection as a starter only sharpened the spotlight on a player who has quickly become central to the clubs long-term plans. For an organization still trying to build a stable core, that kind of visibility matters almost as much as the production itself.
Kurtz is under team control through 2031 and is already in contract talks, which gives the Athletics a chance to lock in a centerpiece before his value climbs any higher. Langeliers brings a different kind of urgency, with free agency looming in 2028 and Scott Boras representing him, a combination that tends to keep front offices on alert. Together, their All-Star recognition could shape not just how the Athletics are viewed this summer, but how aggressively they approach the next few seasons. [Read more 🡒]
As Road Trip Opens With The Kind Of Test That Changes Everything
A road trip that opens in Detroit and then rolls on to Chicago gives the Athletics little room to ease into the week, especially with the Tigers lining up one of the more difficult arms they will see. Oakland gets J.T. Ginn in the series, and he has at least given the club a steadier look lately after a strong six-inning outing, but the bigger backdrop is a team trying to stop the slide before it hardens into something more damaging in the standings.
The challenge is even sharper because Detroit can answer with Tarik Skubal, a pitcher whose return has already changed the tone around that rotation and around the market that may follow him. If the A's are going to make this trip matter for the right reasons, they will need sharper work from the top of the staff and a cleaner showing than what has defined much of the recent stretch, with Chicago waiting next as another test that can expose where this group really stands. [Read more 🡒]