Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams has drawn some trade interest from the Yankees and is “expected to” get some interest from the Brewers as well, as per The Athletic’s Spencer Nusbaum and Will Sammon. Milwaukee reportedly also looked into acquiring Abrams from Washington last offseason, Nusbaum/Sammon write, but talks went nowhere due to the very high return the Nats were known to be demanding for the All-Star.
Reports last winter indicated that Abrams was being shopped, though president of baseball operations Paul Toboni denied that description of trade discussions, saying “it’s not like we are calling other teams and looking to trade CJ….While we’ll always listen, we’re going to take it day-by-day.” Likewise, Nusbaum and Sammon note that “the Nationals are not shopping Abrams” right now but will again hear teams out in case a particularly enticing offer is floated.
There are plenty of reasons why Abrams will still be in D.C. after August 3, including the most obvious point that the Nationals might be looking to buy rather than sell (or do a bit of both) at the deadline. The Nats are 52-52 and three games out of a NL wild card spot, so even while the club has struggled for much of July, so adding some sorely needed pitching to help Abrams and Washington’s league-leading offense might well get the Nationals more firmly back into the race.
If none of the offers for Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr., or Foster Griffin (the team’s three biggest plausible trade chips) really stand out to Toboni, he could keep the entire group and then look to be more of an aggressive deadline buyer. Griffin is an impending free agent but Garcia is arbitration-controlled through 2027 and Abrams through 2028, so the Nats are in no real rush to move either infielder.
Abrams has only added to his trade value with what is tracking as easily the best of his five MLB seasons. Abrams’ .288/.361/.544 slash line represents personal bests in all three categories, and he has already topped his personal high in home runs by launching 24 big flies this year. Only nine players in baseball (teammate James Wood is one of them) have a better wRC+ than Abrams’ 144 number.
Two fantastic opening months were followed by a .708 OPS in June, but Abrams has roared back with a 1.092 OPS over 72 PA in July. This recent success may quell some doubts about Abrams’ ability to deliver sustained offensive production, as he also got off to hot starts in 2024 and 2025 before going ice-cold in the final three months of those seasons. That said, his strikeout, walk, and hard-contact rates are all middling, and while his .349 xwOBA is still quite good, it is well below his .385 wOBA.
Abrams’ offensive upside is so great that it might make teams look past his lackluster glovework. For the second straight seasons, the Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average metrics have both panned Abrams’ work at shortstop. (OAA has never been a fan, with a whopping -57 grade for Abrams’ five-year career.) Abrams played a few games at second base and even had a bit of right field work during his 2022 season with the Padres, so it is possible a new club might trade for him and then install him at second base, even if a midseason position change can be tricky.
This means the Yankees could hypothetically put Abrams at second base and then move Jazz Chisholm Jr. over to third place, turning Ryan McMahon into a glove-first backup. But the likelier scenario is probably that the Yankees would just live with Abrams’ lack of defense and put him at shortstop, turning Jose Caballero and Anthony Volpe into bench pieces.
Given how badly New York’s offense has cratered since Aaron Judge went on the IL almost two months ago, the Yankees are in much greater need of a big bat than defensive help. Over the long term, the Yankees could then look to move Abrams to second base for 2027 since Chisholm is a free agent after the season and shortstop George Lombard Jr. is New York’s top prospect.
Rookie Cooper Pratt‘s bat has started to pick up in the last couple of weeks, but he is still hitting a modest .258/.343/.344 over his first 108 big league plate appearances. Since the Brewers aren’t getting anything from the third base position either, Pratt could be easily shifted over to the hot corner to platoon with David Hamilton, while Abrams takes over at shortstop.
Abrams as a longer-term fit in Milwaukee’s infield would create some intrigue. Pratt has already been signed to a long-term extension, second baseman Brice Turang is under arbitration control through 2029, and infield prospects Jesus Made and Luis Pena are both blue-chip minor leaguers. Maybe the Brewers could continue with Pratt at third base and Abrams at shortstop until Made is ready, or perhaps the Brew Crew might even experiment with Abrams as a first baseman. It is probable that the Nationals would ask for Made first in any Abrams negotiations and that’s a move the Brewers aren’t likely to make, but Pena might be a realistic inclusion in a trade package.
Continuing on the prospect front, Milwaukee and New York each have well-regarded farm systems with a good deal of minor league depth. The idea of having a controllable player like Abrams for at least three postseason runs could make a trade suitor more open to coming somewhere close to Washington’s asking price, assuming that ask drops from the “unreasonable” demands that Nusbaum/Sammon heard the Nats were making for Abrams in the offseason.
