Washington Nationals avoid arbitration with Cade Cavalli in a unique deal

Cade Cavalli and the Washington Nationals have found a way to settle their arbitration case. The two sides reached an agreement on a deal that will pay him $870,000 for 2026. Interestingly, they agreed to a club option that would pay Cavalli $4 million. It is good to see the two sides reach a deal before going to an arbitration hearing.

Cavalli is going to be a big part of this Nats rotation in 2026. Outside of MacKenzie Gore, Cavalli has the highest ceiling of anyone in the Nats rotation. His fastball averaged 97 MPH last year and he also has a devastating curveball to pair with it. Against lefties, Cavalli also mixes in a power changeup to great effect. 

It is nice to see that the two sides were able to come together. The gap between the two sides was only $75,000. Going to court over that amount never made a ton of sense, so it is good to see this resolved. Out of all the arbitration disputes, that $75k gap was the smallest.

With that in mind, the two sides agreeing to a deal is not very surprising. One thing that did surprise me was the inclusion of a $4 million club option for 2027. The Nats could have just let the arbitration process play out, but they decided to do this instead. It puts them on the clock.

If Cavalli stays healthy and is even moderately effective, this option is a no-brainer. The Nats decided to pay Jake Irvin $3 million this year and he doesn’t have the upside of Cavalli. You are not going to be able to find a starter on the open market with Cavalli’s upside for that price.

Even injury prone starters with lesser stuff get paid more than that in free agency. We have seen Michael Soroka make $9 million and $7.5 million in the last two seasons. With that in mind, this option is likely to be a formality.

The only way it does not get picked up is if Cavalli suffers another serious arm injury. He had Tommy John back in 2023 and basically missed two whole seasons recovering from it. The injury history here is dicey, but he is still a high end talent.

I am very excited to see what Cavalli can do in 2026. He is one of my biggest breakout candidates for the upcoming season. The stuff is nasty, but he needs to work on his command and sequencing. His control was actually pretty solid in the big leagues last year, but the command was not great.

Cavalli was pumping strikes, but he was throwing it to the heart of the plate too often. He also had some issues putting hitters away. There were so many times last year where he would get a hitter in a two strike count before throwing a hanging curve or a center cut fastball.

Hopefully this is something the new coaching staff can fix. While Cavalli is already 27 years old, he still has much more developmental upside than the average 27 year old pitcher. Even going back to his college days, he hasn’t pitched that much. He still has time to grow and gain experience.

Now we know his contractual situation for 2026, which is nice. Both sides met in the middle and came to an agreement on his 2027 contract in the process. Well done by both sides. Now Cavalli can focus on having that long awaited breakout year.