May 6: Kranick’s deal pays him $800K this season, reports Jessica Camerato of MLB.com. The 2027 option value is to be determined, in a sense. It’ll either be valued at $850K or $50K north of whatever the new league minimum is in 2027 — whichever of the two is higher. With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring, it’s of course possible that the $780K league minimum will increase further next year under a new agreement.
May 5: Washington officially announced the signing of Kranick to a one-year contract with a club option for 2027. He has been placed on the 15-day injured list as he continues working back from the elbow procedure. The team did not disclose salary terms.
May 1: The Nationals and right-hander Max Kranick have agreed to terms on a deal, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. The former Pirates and Mets righty underwent flexor tendon surgery last July and was non-tendered by the Mets in November. The Covenant Sports Group client’s contract is still pending a physical.
Kranick, 28, has pitched in parts of three seasons but never been able to carve out any staying power, thanks largely to injuries. He underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2022 and missed the vast majority of the 2023 season as a result. The Mets claimed him off waivers in the 2023-24 offseason but didn’t call him to the majors in ’24 — despite solid results in the minors.
In 2025, the Mets gave Kranick a real look. He got out to a nice start and was sitting on a 3.65 ERA through 37 frames at the time of his flexor injury. Kranick’s 16.9% strikeout rate was well south of the 22.3% league average, but his 3.4% walk rate was outstanding. Those trends have been fairly typical for Kranick. He’s never missed many bats but has generally run a better-than-average walk rate (granted, not quite to his 2025 extent) when healthy.
Washington’s pitching staff has been one of the worst in the game this year. The Nats’ 5.11 team earned run average sits 29th in the majors. That’s due largely to struggles in the rotation (Miles Mikolas and Zack Littell, in particular), but Washington’s collective 4.90 ERA from the bullpen ranks 23rd in the game as well.
Given those poor results, it’s hardly a surprise to see the Nats bring in some outside arms. Kranick isn’t going to be ready to jump right into the mix, however. He threw for teams back in January and was said at the time to be targeting a second-half return from the injured list. Once the deal is finalized, he’ll presumably need to work through a throwing progression and then go through a lengthy minor league rehab stint.
Kranick has 3.011 years of big league service time, so if he makes it back to the majors with the Nats and pitches well, he can be controlled for another three seasons beyond the current campaign. He’s out of minor league options, so once he’s added to the active big league roster, Washington won’t be able to send him to the minors unless he clears outright waivers.
Let’s poach another Mets reliever!
Just like they did with Lovelady he has been quite good for Washington this year.
“Lovelady he has been quite good for Washington this year.”
He’s thrown six innings for them, lol. And he’s walked five in those six innings and has a 1.737 WHIP.
And yet, he’s still been one of Washington’s best relievers.
3 of those walks were intentional. In his last 4 outings, he had 2 holds, a win, and a save.
Maybe if they stopped letting their effective relievers go while keeping the trash ones lmao
Who?
Big if true
Can’t believe David Stearns let him get away.
Problem solved!
Should we take a page on someone like carasco or velasquez?
How about Luis Peralta?
Hopefully they get Max-imum potential out of him (I apologize for the stupid pun lol)
Good for Kranick. Would have liked to have seen the Mets retain him.
And at this price, its hard to see why they didn’t. The AAA teamd oesn’t even have a starting rotation at this point. they’re going to bullpen days and openers/piggyback for two fo the five days.
Mikolas should get the boot, he’s no longer useful, and his moustache is ridiculous.