The Nationals are bringing back Kyle Finnegan, with Robert Murray of FanSided reporting that the two sides have agreed to a one-year contract. The Warner Sports Management client gets a $6MM guarantee, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The Nats have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make this official.
Finnegan, 33, spent the past five years with the Nats. He made 291 appearances for the club in that time, allowing 3.56 earned runs per nine innings. He struck out 23.5% of batters faced, gave out walks at a 9.5% clip and got grounders on 47.5% of balls in play. He also took over the closer’s job in that time. He earned 11 saves in both 2021 and 2022, then got that number to 28 in 2023 and 38 last year.
The Nats could have retained Finnegan for 2025 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a salary of $8.6MM, a bump from the $5.1MM he made in 2024. They somewhat surprisingly decided to walk away instead, non-tendering him back in November.
Though that move initially raised some eyebrows, there were some concerning numbers under the hood. His ERA has held fairly steady recently but his strikeout rate has been ticking down. He struck out 26.1% of batters faced in 2022, but that number fell to the 22% range in each of the past two seasons. His 2024 campaign was also fairly lopsided. He had a 2.45 ERA and 26.1% strikeout rate in the first half but a 5.79 ERA and 16.4% strikeout rate in the second.
He has also been susceptible to some loud contact in his career, especially lately. His 91.3 mile per hour exit velocity last year was considered by Statcast to be in the first percentile of qualified pitchers. His 48.1% hard hit rate was in the second percentile. In 2023, he allowed a 92.2 mph average exit velo (first percentile) and 47.5% hard hit rate (fourth percentile).
In hindsight, the decision not to tender him a contract looks like a wise one for the Nats. Though the righty received interest from some other clubs this winter, the Nats stayed in contact with Finnegan and were able to bring him back while saving a few million bucks relative to his projected price range.
The Nats have been rebuilding for the past few years and their offseason has mostly been about adding solid short-term veterans to their young core. Those vets can stabilize the roster and will ideally turn themselves into deadline trade chips if Washington isn’t contending in July.
In the bullpen, they have signed Jorge López and Lucas Sims to one-year deals, with Finnegan now joining them in that category. Derek Law is back for his final season of club control, retained via arbitration. Colin Poche is in camp as a non-roster invitee and is just about two months shy of six years of big league service time. If he’s added to the roster, the Nats would have five experienced bullpen arms slated for free agency after the season, making them logical summer trade candidates.
In the interim, there will be opportunities for younger arms to pitch around those guys. Jose A. Ferrer has just 66 big league innings but has posted huge ground ball rates in that time. Rule 5 pick Evan Reifert has to hold a spot or else be offered back to the Rays. Perhaps one of the club’s many starting candidates will end up in the bullpen as a long reliever. Eduardo Salazar, Zach Brzykcy and Orlando Ribalta are also on the 40-man but each has less than a year of big league service and can be optioned to the minors.