Griffin Canning is back on the radar.
After a rollercoaster 2025 season that started with promise and ended with a torn Achilles, the right-hander is drawing interest from multiple clubs on the free-agent market - with the Cardinals, Mets, and White Sox all reportedly in the mix. It’s a testament to the flashes Canning showed last year, even if the campaign was cut short before he could fully capitalize on his early momentum.
Let’s rewind a bit. Canning came into 2025 on a one-year, prove-it deal with the Mets after being non-tendered by Atlanta.
The Braves had acquired him in a salary-shedding move from the Angels - a quick-turn trade that saw Jorge Soler head west - but didn’t hang onto him long. That opened the door for New York, and when injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas thinned the Mets’ rotation in spring, Canning stepped in and made the most of the opportunity.
Over his first nine starts, he looked like a legitimate mid-rotation piece. A 2.47 ERA, solid strikeout and walk numbers (23.2% K rate, 8.6% BB rate), and a ground-ball rate north of 55% - the kind of profile that keeps innings clean and pitch counts low.
Even with some favorable batted-ball luck baked in, the underlying metrics (3.84 SIERA, 3.92 FIP) backed up the performance. This wasn’t smoke and mirrors - it was a pitcher finally finding his groove.
But then came the stumble. In mid-May, Canning’s command wavered.
He walked 18 batters over a 26 1/3-inning stretch, and just as he was working to get back on track, disaster struck. In a road start against his former team in Atlanta, Canning tore his Achilles during his follow-through in the third inning.
Just like that, his season was over.
Still, the body of work - 3.77 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate, and a 50.9% ground-ball rate across 71 2/3 innings - was enough to turn some heads. Especially the ground-ball rate.
With the Angels, Canning had leaned more toward fly-ball tendencies, but the Mets tweaked his pitch mix and made adjustments to the shape and release points on his slider and changeup. The result?
A more efficient version of Canning, one who kept the ball on the ground and limited damage.
Now, as he works his way back from surgery, another one-year deal seems to be the likely route. He’s expected to be ready around Opening Day, though it remains to be seen whether he’ll need a brief IL stint to ramp up. Either way, there’s real interest - and for good reason.
The Mets make plenty of sense. They were the ones who helped unlock this version of Canning, and with questions surrounding their rotation depth - especially with trade chatter involving Kodai Senga and David Peterson - bringing him back would be a logical move. He’s familiar with the staff, the system, and the expectations.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, are always on the lookout for reliable innings. They’ve been active this offseason in reshaping their pitching staff, and Canning fits the mold of a low-risk, potentially high-reward arm who could round out the back end of a rotation or serve as a valuable swingman.
And then there’s the White Sox, who continue to explore options to stabilize a pitching staff in transition. For a team looking to rebuild value and find upside plays, Canning checks a lot of boxes - assuming, of course, he’s healthy.
Canning’s career has been marked by glimpses of promise - a second-round pedigree, top prospect status in the Angels’ system, and stretches of real effectiveness at the big-league level. But injuries have consistently interrupted his rhythm, from elbow and groin issues to last year’s Achilles tear.
Now, he’s looking for another shot. And if he’s anything close to the version we saw early last season, he won’t just be a depth signing - he could be a difference-maker.