Nationals Officially Agree to Extension With Ace Cade Cavalli

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Cade Cavalli IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Nationals Officially Agree to Extension With Ace Cade Cavalli

Originally posted on Washington Nationals on SI
By Brad Wakai | Last updated Sep 18, 2026 3:52 PM ET

On Thursday, there was a report that the Washington Nationals and right-handed pitcher Cade Cavalli were working on getting an extension done.

Now, on Friday, the Nationals announced that they got something finalized with their ace.

Washington revealed that it is a four-year extension that will keep Cavalli in the nation's capital through 2030. There is also a club option for 2031. Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic later reported that this contract will pay Cavalli $47 million guaranteed. And if the club option for 2031 is picked up, then he will receive a total of $70 million.

Nationals Hand Out First Extension of the Some mPaul Toboni Era

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It goes without saying that this is a monumental moment for the Nationals under the leadership of first-year president of baseball operations Paul Toboni.

Following an offseason where he made some high-profile moves -- including trades of former ace MacKenzie Gore, projected closer Jose A. Ferrer and top 30 prospect Jake Bennett -- it wasn't clear what direction Toboni was going to take things in Washington. And after he pulled the plug on the season ahead of the trade deadline by shipping out Luis Garcia and other established players, how he was going to operate as the head of this ballclub wasn't known.

Locking Cavalli into a long-term deal sheds some light on what he wants to do, though.

Coming into the 2026 season, he, manager Blake Butera and other members of the front office and coaching staff made it clear that Cavalli was someone they wanted to build around. And now, after getting this extension finalized, that's exactly what they did.

This article first appeared on Washington Nationals on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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