Washington Nationals stars CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore among Jeff Passan’s top trade candidates

There have been rumblings about the Nationals potentially making big moves to shake up their core this offseason. The two names that are mentioned most often as trade candidates are MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams. Jeff Passan, the top MLB insider, put both on his most recent trade board and gave some interesting information about both.

In this board, Passan also put percentages on whether a player gets moved. Interestingly, Abrams is seen as having a slightly higher chance of being moved than Gore. Passan put Abrams trade odds at 35%, while Gore is seen as having a 30% chance of being moved.

This is surprising to me because it has always felt like Gore has been the more likely of the two to be moved. He is closer to free agency than Abrams and is also represented by Scott Boras, making an extension less likely. Despite this, Passan is relatively bearish on his chances of being moved in the offseason.

However, Passan does believe that Gore will be traded at some point, but pointed out that a lot of executives think the move could happen at this upcoming trade deadline. This makes sense, but it would be a risky decision for the Nats.

There are a couple benefits of waiting until the deadline to move Gore. Paul Toboni may believe that his development team could unlock a new level in Gore’s game which would raise his value. Also, as pitchers go down and teams push for the playoffs, the desperation to make a move intensifies. Gore also tends to start seasons well, which would raise his value because the end of last season likely gives other teams a bad taste.

There are also plenty of other pitchers that are better than Gore on Passan’s trade board. Names like Joe Ryan, Hunter Greene and Freddy Peralta are on his list. If you wait for the deadline and Gore has a strong start, he could be the biggest name on the market at the deadline.

This is also risky though because pitchers are volatile. If Gore gets hurt, that value just goes up in smoke. He has also been an inconsistent pitcher in his career, so betting on him being good is another risk. You can get value right now if you trade him. However, if you wait and things go poorly, that value can really depreciate.

Passan also mentioned that the potential of a lockout could impact Gore’s market because 2027 is his walk year. The teams he mentioned as fits are the O’s, the Yankees, the D-Backs, the Rangers and the Giants. He also said that Paul Toboni has also held discussions with teams already.

On the CJ Abrams front, I am actually quite surprised that Passan said he has a 35% chance of being moved. That feels a bit high to me, but hey, I am not a well-connected MLB insider. It is a surprise because Abrams has three years of team control remaining and could be an extension candidate.

However, if a move were to happen those two things would be enticing for teams. That cheap team control is why smaller market teams like the Pirates, the Royals and the Guardians are mentioned as candidates for Abrams.

One thing that really fascinated me was just something that Passan mentioned in passing in his writeup on Abrams. He floated the idea of moving Abrams to center field, which I had not really thought about much before. Abrams is an obvious position change candidate due to his poor defense at shortstop. However, the position I had always thought about moving him to was second base. The Nats crowded outfield is probably why the idea of moving him to center field never really occurred to me.

At 35% though, Passan still thinks there is a good chance Abrams does not get moved, so this is no slam dunk. He mentioned in the piece that the Nats are in no rush to move him. However, he did indicate that if a team were willing to pay a premium for him the Nats would pull the trigger. In the end, I don’t think he gets moved, but this will be an interesting storyline to follow.

The totally insane scenario would be Paul Toboni packaging Abrams and Gore in the same package. Earlier in the offseason Passan actually floated that idea. He did not mention it in this story, but crazier things have happened. After all, it would be much less surprising than when the Nats packaged Scherzer and Turner.

The Giants were mentioned as fits for both Gore and Abrams, but I do not think they have the prospect capital to get both players. With how much it would take to get both, a double deal probably does not happen but it is worth keeping in the back of your mind.

So far the Nats offseason has been eerily quiet. However, this could just be the calm before the storm. Jeff Passan seems to believe there is a solid chance that the Nationals really shake things up this offseason. Based on how last season went, I would not blame Paul Toboni for doing that.