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Cooking Up Nationals SS CJ Abrams Trade Packages amid MLB Trade Rumors
Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but we can stay warm all winter long if we bundle up around the fire of MLB's hot stove.
One of the latest bits of scuttlebutt that was nestled into Jeff Passan's report over the weekend about Kansas City signing Maikel Garcia to a five-year extension is that the Royals have had talks with the Washington Nationals about trading for CJ Abrams.
It was far from the first time in the past six months that there has been speculation about the Nats maybe being willing to move the shortstop with three years of arbitration eligibility remaining, but it might be the first time that a specific team has been linked as a suitor for Abrams' services.
Let's pull at that thread and cook up some hypothetical trade packages.
Much like free-agent shortstop Bo Bichette, there are major questions about whether Abrams can/should remain a shortstop in light of his terrible defensive metrics, or whether a move to second base is in order. We'll assume both options are on the table for the middle infielder who has 57 home runs and has been worth 10.2 bWAR over the past three seasons.
Though Washington has been perpetually rebuilding in recent years, Abrams certainly won't come cheap. Baseball Trade Values puts his "surplus value" at 54.7. That means (disputably) he is worth more than James Wood (50.8) or MacKenzie Gore (48.3), and suggests that even in a straight up trade for Philadelphia's seemingly untouchable Andrew Painter (52.3), Washington would theoretically be the one saying no.
But let's see what we can do.
Teams are presented in alphabetical order, culminating in the obligatory madness of a three-team proposal.
Athletics
1 of 9
Current Middle Infield Situation: SS Jacob Wilson, 2B Zack Gelof/Max Schuemann
Hypothetical Trade Package: Washington Nationals send SS CJ Abrams and C Caleb Lomavita to Athletics for SS Leo De Vries
Would the Nationals actually want to trade for Leo De Vries?
When they just took a shortstop (Eli Willits) No. 1 overall in the 2025 draft and already have four shortstops among their top 10 prospects, per MLB.com's pipeline?
Or would they simply leap at the opportunity to acquire one of the top prospects in all of baseball and worry about figuring out a possible logjam later?
Most likely the latter.
If you'll recall, De Vries was the main attraction heading in the A's direction in the Mason Miller blockbuster over the summer. And the now-19-year-old shortstop had one heck of a run in September at Double-A Midland, batting .394 with eight home runs in 66 ABs.
How long will it be until he's ready for the big leagues, though? And would the A's part with his future potential for the present benefit of getting Abrams' bat into Sutter Health Park? (Statcast says he would have hit 29 home runs there last season, which is six more than any other venue.)
Jacob Wilson is their current stalwart at shortstop, but upgrading to Abrams at second base could be a major boost for an already stout A's offense—and without too exorbitant a dollar cost, projected for around $5.5M in 2026.
Boston Red Sox
2 of 9
Current Middle Infield Situation: SS Trevor Story, 2B Kristian Campbell/David Hamilton
Hypothetical Trade Package: Washington Nationals send SS CJ Abrams to Boston Red Sox for LHP Payton Tolle and IF Mikey Romero
Boston opened the offseason with a highly questionable infield predicament, and things have only gotten bleaker in the past six weeks.
They non-tendered first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and missed out on the Pete Alonso sweepstakes. They also traded away middle infielder Vaughn Grissom and have yet to do anything to address the loss of Alex Bregman at the hot corner.
At this point, it's looking like Triston Casas, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer could all be starting on Opening Day. Whether due to injury or ineffectiveness, though, none of those three appeared in any of Boston's final 58 games. And goodness only knows if Trevor Story will have another healthy, productive year at shortstop.
Long story short, there's room for improvement, and a possible willingness to part with two coveted prospects in exchange for several years' worth of a relatively sure thing.
They could roll with Abrams at 2B with a Campbell/Casas platoon at 1B, in which case the right side of the infield would be costing them a combined sum of less than $10M in 2026. Combine that with how little the star-studded outfield is making and that's how you justify ponying up the necessary dough to bring back Bregman.
Kansas City Royals
3 of 9
Current Middle Infield Situation: SS Bobby Witt Jr., 2B Jonathan India/Michael Massey
Hypothetical Trade Package: Washington Nationals send SS CJ Abrams to Kansas City Royals for 1B/OF Jac Caglianone and LHP Hunter Owen
Got to include the Royals since they were the catalyst for this article, right?
The Hunter Owen portion of this package is merely a lottery ticket meant to help grease the wheels if the Nationals balk at a straight-up one-for-one swap.
Jac Caglianone's rookie season was rather disappointing. The No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 draft appeared in 62 big league games, hitting seven home runs en route to a .532 OPS. Of the 348 players who made at least 200 plate appearances in 2025, only five had a worse OPS than that.
But in the minors, he was unreal, hitting 20 home runs in 66 games while posting a 1.025 OPS. This coming after a final season at the University of Florida in which he batted .419 and homered in better than 11 percent of his plate appearances.
Baseball Trade Values puts Caglianone's surplus value at 47.9, implying it's a swap the Royals ought to be willing to consider.
Personally, it's a preposterous proposition that Kansas City would decline in a heartbeat, banking on Cags becoming a star over the course of his next six years of team control. In fact, if there's any headline this winter involving Caglianone, it's probably going to be news of a long-term extension, not a trade.
But if they're desperately trying to win in 2026—which they ought to be, with Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Sal Perez not getting any younger—and they're worried that Caglianone might need another year or two before he starts consistently producing in the big leagues, maybe they'd be willing to give Washington a long-term building block at first base.
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Minnesota Twins
4 of 9
Current Middle Infield Situation: SS Brooks Lee, 2B Luke Keaschall/Kody Clemens
Hypothetical Trade Package: Washington Nationals send SS CJ Abrams to Minnesota Twins for OF Walker Jenkins
Signing 1B Josh Bell to a one-year, $7M deal on Monday morning wasn't exactly an emphatic statement of Minnesota's intention to contend in 2026, but it did further dispel any notion that they might spend this offseason selling off foundational pieces in the name of a rebuild.
If they are committed to trying to win the AL Central next season, they almost certainly need to upgrade a middle infield that ranked 22nd in 2B fWAR and 22nd in SS fWAR in 2025.
At any rate, the only other team that ranked bottom nine in both of those departments was the Colorado Rockies. And let's just say "an excess of other great options at shortstop" wasn't the reason Minnesota traded away Carlos Correa last summer.
But would they part with Walker Jenkins?
The No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 draft appeared in a combined total of just 166 games over the past two seasons, due to a hamstring injury in 2024 and an ankle injury in 2025. He's still just 20 years old, though, and fared quite well in 52 games at the Double-A level this past season. His progression has been a bit stunted, but there's still extremely high hopes for him.
And while outfield help is just about the only thing the Nationals don't need, sliding James Wood from LF to 1B to make room for Jenkins could be the play here.
Pittsburgh Pirates
5 of 9
Current Middle Infield Situation: SS Jared Triolo, 2B Nick Gonzales
Hypothetical Trade Package: Washington Nationals send SS CJ Abrams and OF Daylen Lile to Pittsburgh Pirates for RHP Bubba Chandler and LHP Hunter Barco
The Pirates have been talking a big game about being more aggressive than usual this offseason, and a marquee trade in which they're the ones giving up top prospects would certainly qualify as a deviation from the norm.
Bubba Chandler is one of the most highly touted pitching prospects in all of baseball, and the Nationals got an up-close-and-personal look at his stuff this past September when he shoved for six innings with seven strikeouts against them.
Surely, Pittsburgh is none too keen on parting with his potential. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Pirates desperately need multiple bats if they're going to accomplish anything during the Paul Skenes era.
Abrams would definitely be an upgrade at either middle-infield spot, and if Lile can even remotely repeat his .845 OPS as a rookie this past season, he could instantly become the best thing about this offense.
Moreover, even if you subtract both Chandler and Hunter Barco from the mix, they still have Skenes, Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, Mike Burrows, Carmen Mlodzinski, Braxton Ashcraft and Tom Harrington as options in a formidable starting rotation.
San Francisco Giants
6 of 9
Current Middle Infield Situation: SS Willy Adames, 2B Tyler Fitzgerald/Casey Schmitt/Christian Koss
Hypothetical Trade Package: Washington Nationals send SS CJ Abrams to San Francisco Giants for 1B Bryce Eldridge
Possibly while the Royals and Nationals were discussing Abrams' availability, there was talk at last week's winter meetings that the Giants could be willing to move top prospect Bryce Eldridge.
If San Francisco is willing to have that conversation, it must be reasonably comfortable with Rafael Devers as the long-term plan at first base, after he made 28 starts there this past fall. And if that's the case, what an infield they could put together with Devers at first, Abrams at second, Willy Adames at shortstop and Matt Chapman at third base.
Granted, what the Giants actually need is starting pitching, and they're probably not parting with Eldridge unless it's to get another ace-caliber arm into the rotation alongside Robbie Ray and Logan Webb.
Frankly, if it's a trade with the Nationals, a straight up swap of Eldridge for LHP MacKenzie Gore seems far more likely than for Abrams.
Then again, it wouldn't be shocking if the Giants were feeling a bit of desperation to lock in a reasonably sure thing at second base for a few years. They've been juggling options at that spot in the lineup since Joe Panik had that breakout in the mid-2010s.
Seattle Mariners
7 of 9
Current Middle Infield Situation: SS J.P. Crawford, 2B Cole Young/Ryan Bliss/Leo Rivas
Hypothetical Trade Package: Washington Nationals send SS CJ Abrams to Seattle Mariners for 2B Michael Arroyo, RHP Ryan Sloan and RHP Michael Morales
With Jorge Polanco signing with the Mets over the weekend, it's now official that the Mariners need to figure out how to replace what was both one of their more productive bats in 2025 and their starting second baseman for most of the postseason.
The hope was that 2022 first-round pick Cole Young would take the reins, but he posted a .607 OPS in 77 games played last season and wasn't on their postseason roster. There's also high hopes for top infield prospect and 2023 first-round pick Colt Emerson, but what if he doesn't exactly hit the ground running, either?
Throw in J.P. Crawford entering his final season before free agency as well as what is currently a big unknown at third base and it'd be nice for the M's to get Abrams just to have some not-that-expensive, multiple-year stability in the infield beyond Josh Naylor at first base.
They certainly have the farm system necessary to make it happen, both in terms of high-end talent and depth of coveted assets. It's really just a question of which combination of top 100 prospects would be agreeable to the two sides who already put together a Jose A. Ferrer-for-Harry Ford swap earlier this month.
Toronto Blue Jays
8 of 9
Current Middle Infield Situation: SS Addison Barger, 2B Andrés Giménez
Hypothetical Trade Package: Washington Nationals send SS CJ Abrams to Toronto Blue Jays for LHP Ricky Tiedemann, SS Arjun Nimmala, OF RJ Schreck and 3B/1B Charles McAdoo
Bo Bichette is still out there in free agency, and there has been talk of the Blue Jays as a possible landing spot for Diamondbacks 2B Ketel Marte.
Both of those are more productive middle infield solutions than CJ Abrams.
However, it's going to take nine figures, possibly $200M to re-sign Bichette. And in addition to the more than $100M left on Marte's contract, Arizona would almost certainly require Trey Yesavage and then some to make that deal.
With this hypothetical trade, yes, they'd be giving up two of their five best prospects in Ricky Tiedemann and Arjun Nimmala. They'd be getting three years of Abrams at a fraction of the dollar cost of Bichette, though, and without parting with anyone that they're counting on playing a major role in 2026.
If they think they can turn around and unload the more than $80M remaining on Andrés Giménez's contract, a trade for Abrams is definitely worth pursuing.
3-Team Trade
9 of 9
Tampa Bay Rays Receive: SS CJ Abrams (from WAS), RHP Patrick Copen (from LAD) and Robert Hassell III (from WAS)
Los Angeles Dodgers Receive: 2B Brandon Lowe (from TBR) and RHP Griffin Jax (from TBR)
Washington Nationals Receive: OF Zyhir Hope (from LAD) and SS Carson Williams (from TBR)
From the Nationals side of things, they'd be getting a pair of top-50 prospects for Abrams and a former top prospect (Robert Hassell III) who has yet to pan out. Hard to argue with that, especially if they can either convert James Wood to 1B or trade from their surplus of outfielders for a starting pitcher.
The Dodgers would be getting another solid right-handed reliever in Griffin Jax and one heck of a one-year solution at second base in Brandon Lowe. Ideally, by the time 2027 begins, top prospect Josue De Paula will be ready for everyday work in the outfield and they can slide Tommy Edman back to second after spending the majority of 2026 in the outfield.
And the Rays move Lowe's $11M salary while also getting three years of an established offensive weapon at shortstop, which they've been looking for since abruptly losing Wander Franco's bat in the middle of 2023.
Giving up both Jax and Carson Williams to make that happen might be asking a bit too much from Tampa Bay, but that's comparable to the packages we've asked other teams to give up for Abrams in this exercise. And they get a couple of lottery tickets in addition to Abrams.
Alas, there's a reason we haven't seen a three-team trade in more than a calendar year at this point. But we can dream.
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