{"id":536308,"date":"2026-01-23T05:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/536308\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T05:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:29:09","slug":"nationals-have-shopped-cj-abrams-jacob-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/536308\/","title":{"rendered":"Nationals Have Shopped CJ Abrams, Jacob Young"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Toboni made the most significant move of his first offseason running baseball operations for the Nationals. The Nats shipped MacKenzie Gore<\/a><\/strong> to the Rangers for a five-prospect package<\/a> headlined by last year\u2019s 12th overall pick\u00a0Gavin Fien<\/a><\/strong>. Washington also swapped high-upside reliever\u00a0Jose A. Ferrer<\/a><\/strong> to the Mariners for rookie catcher\u00a0Harry Ford<\/a><\/strong> early in the offseason.<\/p>\n

The team remains amidst a rebuild, as Toboni acknowledged without using that specific term. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got to be honest with ourselves,\u201d he told reporters after the Gore deal (link via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com<\/a>). \u201cThe truth is \u2013 and I don\u2019t think this is a mystery to the fanbase, the media or anyone \u2013 we lost 96 games last year. To turn it around in one year and make the playoffs \u2026 not to say it can\u2019t be done, but it\u2019s a challenge. What we want to do is make sure we build this really strong foundation, so when we do start to push chips in, we can win for an extended period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

That naturally leads to speculation about their other veteran players. Shortstop CJ Abrams<\/a><\/strong> has come up in rumors throughout the offseason. Spencer Nusbaum, Andrew Golden and Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post<\/a> write that the Nationals have shopped Abrams and center fielder Jacob Young<\/a><\/strong> over the winter.<\/p>\n

In Abrams\u2019 case, that could simply be a matter of semantics. It\u2019s no secret the Nationals have heard teams out on the talented infielder, who has reportedly gotten interest from the Royals (surely among various other clubs). Whether they\u2019re initiating the calls or simply seriously considering interest isn\u2019t a major distinction. The asking price remains high, as The Washington Post report indicates the Nats may need a stronger return to move Abrams than the one they received for Gore.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s motivated largely by the club control window. Gore was down to two seasons of arbitration eligibility; Abrams is three years away from free agency. The infielder is also marginally cheaper, as he\u2019s signed for $4.2MM compared to Gore\u2019s $5.6MM salary. The extra control year is the bigger factor, as the Nationals presumably expect to contend by 2028 even if they\u2019re not trying to compete this year.<\/p>\n

[Related: The Best Fits For A CJ Abrams Trade<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n

In each of the past two seasons, Abrams has been an excellent hitter through the All-Star Break before tailing off in the second half. He has been a little better than average overall, hitting .252\/.315\/.433 in more than 1200 plate appearances over the past two years. Abrams has 39 homers and 62 stolen bases with slightly lower than average strikeout and walk marks in that time. He\u2019s an above-average regular who has an All-Star level ceiling that he has yet to consistently reach.<\/p>\n

Abrams gives back some of the value with the glove. He\u2019s one of the weaker shortstops in MLB and trails only Elly De La Cruz<\/a><\/strong> with 39 errors over the past two seasons. They\u2019ve mostly been of the throwing variety, yet Statcast hasn\u2019t looked favorably upon his range either. Abrams would project better at second base or potentially in center field. He has been a full-time shortstop on a Washington team that has probably had the worst all-around infield defense in the majors.<\/p>\n

Despite the drawbacks, Abrams should have substantial appeal on the trade market. He\u2019s a 25-year-old plus athlete who fits somewhere in the middle of the diamond. He\u2019s a former sixth overall pick and top prospect who has stretches where he\u2019s an excellent table-setter in one of the top two lineup spots. The Nats should demand a haul to part with him when he\u2019s controllable for three seasons. In addition to Kansas City, teams like the Giants, Red Sox, Mariners and Padres (the club that drafted him and dealt him to Washington in the Juan Soto<\/a><\/strong> deal) are speculative fits. Those teams could all upgrade at second base, and many of them have been involved on another lefty-hitting trade chip,\u00a0Brendan Donovan<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Young hasn\u2019t gotten much attention as a trade candidate this winter. He\u2019s overshadowed by bigger names like Gore and Abrams and certainly wouldn\u2019t command as big a return. However, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic<\/a> writes that the Nationals have gotten interest from teams looking to improve in center field. Those clubs would be on Young for his years of affordable control and elite glove.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old is still in his pre-arbitration seasons and at least four years from free agency. He stole 33 bases and probably should have won a Gold Glove in 2024, as he led MLB outfielders with 20 Outs Above Average that season. Defensive Runs Saved wasn\u2019t quite so bullish but graded him 12 runs above par. Young posted similarly impressive defensive metrics last year, tallying +13 DRS and 14 OAA despite losing nearly 350 innings of playing time relative to the prior season. He missed a couple weeks between May and June after spraining the AC joint in his left shoulder when he ran into a wall at Camden Yards tracking a Ram\u00f3n Laureano<\/a><\/strong> fly ball.<\/p>\n

Excellent as Young is defensively, he\u2019s not going to provide much at the plate. He\u2019s coming off a .231\/.296\/.287 season and has a career .247\/.310\/.316 batting line in just over 1000 plate appearances. Young makes a lot of contact but puts most of it on the ground and has very little power. The right-handed hitter has been slightly better against southpaws over his career, but he\u2019s a below-average offensive player against pitchers of either handedness.<\/p>\n

There are some parallels between Young and top free agent center fielder\u00a0Harrison Bader<\/a><\/strong>, but the latter is coming off a career year at the plate. Teams that don\u2019t want to meet Bader\u2019s asking price could view Young as a reasonable fallback. The center field market is almost always thin, both in free agency and trade. The Diamondbacks, Guardians, Royals, Phillies, Angels, Tigers, White Sox and Orioles are among the teams that could use a righty-hitting center fielder\/fourth outfielder. Washington has no need to force a Young trade, but they could deal him and play\u00a0Dylan Crews<\/a><\/strong> in center between a corner outfield tandem of\u00a0James Wood<\/a><\/strong> and\u00a0Daylen Lile<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Toboni made the most significant move of his first offseason running baseball operations for the Nationals. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":536309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[6597,136825,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-536308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-cj-abrams","tag-jacob-young","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115942769488819005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}