Sources: Guardians trade for All-Star lefty Griffin

The Cleveland Guardians have agreed to a trade with the Washington Nationals to acquire left-hander Foster Griffin, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Monday. It's the second major trade made by Cleveland before Monday's trade deadline. Earlier Monday, the Guardians acquired outfielder Jo Adell from the Los Angeles Angels. The Guardians enter Monday's game in second place in the AL Central standings, three games behind the Chicago White Sox. Griffin, who is coming off three excellent seasons in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants, has quietly been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season. A first-time All-Star selection, Griffin is 12-3 with a 3.06 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP and 116 strikeouts in 22 starts for the Nationals. He is eligible to become a free agent after this season. Griffin, 31, doesn't throw hard -- among the National League leaders with a .226 batting average against, his average fastball of 91.4 mph is nearly 3 mph less than the others -- but he does have cutter-heavy seven-pitch mix that includes a changeup and a splitter. He works laterally against lefties (sinker/cutter/sweeper) and more vertically against righties (four-seam fastball, cutter, curveball, changeup). He recently had a streak of eight straight starts where he allowed one run or less in each outing. In 2025, he allowed one home run in 78 innings in Japan. This year, however, he's given up 19 in 129⅓ innings but is among the MLB leaders with 12 wins. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel contributed to this report.