As the Nationals’ rebuild has lasted longer than anticipated — leading to a front office overhaul — and CJ Abrams’ name has frequented the rumor circuit over the past few years as a result. However, Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic reports that multiple executives from around the league have suggested at this week’s GM Meetings that the Nats seem less inclined to seriously entertain offers on their star infielder (video link). The Nationals are currently planning to hang onto Abrams for the upcoming season.
As with any trade scenario, things can change in a heartbeat. It’s not likely to happen, but if a team called and offered Washington one of the game’s two or three best prospects to get the ball rolling, Nats president of baseball ops Paul Toboni would surely at least have a conversation. That’s a pure hypothetical, to be clear, but that sort of unexpected push from a rival front office can always make a team change its tune on an in-house player it plans to keep.
Abrams is entering his sixth big league season despite the fact that he only turned 26 after the season ended. The former No. 6 overall draft pick (Padres, 2019) was one of the sport’s top prospects and one of the headline pieces who went from San Diego to Washington in 2022’s Juan Soto blockbuster. Abrams, James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III and current top prospect Jarlin Susana were all traded from the Padres to the Nats, who were selling off two-plus seasons of control over Soto after he rejected a reported extension offer north of $400MM.
Abrams now finds himself in a similar contractual point. He’s controlled for only two more seasons. However, the Nationals took some meaningful steps forward as a team in 2026. Cade Cavalli put years of injuries behind him to break out as a high-end starter. The Nats picked up controllable left-hander Connelly Early in a trade for breakout infielder Curtis Mead, whom they’d acquired in a DFA swap just months earlier with the White Sox. They also got decent results from 27-year-old rookie left-hander Andrew Alvarez and enjoyed a big rebound campaign from catcher Keibert Ruiz. Recently extended center fielder Jacob Young had his best season at the plate as well.
All of that — coupled with a career-best performance from Abrams himself — understandably has the Nationals feeling a bit more bullish on their chances heading into 2027. Nusbaum indicates that the Nats still aren’t likely to be big-time spenders in free agency but could be a bit more aggressive than they were last winter, when they focused on low-cost one-year deals aimed at generating bulk innings in the rotation.
Abrams posted huge first halves in both 2024 and 2025 before fading down the stretch in each. His 2026 season started with a bang, too, but he was able to keep the engine running a bit more effectively this time around. Abrams still had an awful showing in August (.173/.243/.276) but was productive in September. He posted better-than-average numbers in both the first and second half of the year, closing out the ’26 campaign with a career-best .261/.336/.497 batting line (124 wRC+). Those batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage marks were all the best of Abrams’ career, and he also established new personal bests in home runs (33) and walk rate (8.7%).
Beyond the career-best production, there was another notable development in Abrams’ season: a defensive shift. Though he’d played shortstop for the vast majority of his career, Abrams has long graded as a poor defender there. In mid-August, the Nats announced that they’d begin working Abrams in at second base. He wound up playing only 103 innings there down the stretch but graded better there than he had at shortstop (as one would expect when a shortstop moves down the defensive spectrum). More frequent work at second base seems likely to be in his future.
Abrams’ breakout showing will lead to a notable increase in salary. He made $4.2MM this past season, but MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a huge bump up to $10.2MM. His final two seasons seem likely to cost upwards of $30MM in total, though that’d be a bargain if he can continue to produce anywhere close to his 2026 levels.
As already noted, any team’s willingness to trade a given player can change radically with one text or phone call from another club. That’s probably truer this year than in most offseasons; some teams might prefer to wait on surrendering prominent minor league talent for players with dwindling levels of club control until it’s known for certain whether any games will be missed in 2027. A post-lockout run on trades of short-term veterans seems plausible. Still, it’s notable that the Nats seem both less inclined to listen on Abrams this winter and more intent on making a push to return to Wild Card contention as soon as the 2027 campaign.
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