CJ Abrams Gives Red Sox Every Reason To Go Back To Nationals Trade Well

[Alex Mayes]

The Boston Red Sox have already made a blockbuster deal in advance of the trade deadline, acquiring Curtis Mead late on Saturday, July 25. Mead addresses the right-handed pop that the Red Sox have been looking for since the offseason, but there is still room on the roster to add even more power at the plate as the team looks to make a push for the AL East title through the end of the season. Which brings us to yet another Washington Nationals infielder: All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams.

According to Section 10’s Jared Carrabis, just because the Red Sox have already acquired Mead it doesn’t mean that the team wouldn’t still pursue Abrams in a second deal with the Nationals. On the surface, this seems almost counterintuitive. Why wouldn’t the team just make one large deal for both players instead of doing two smaller transactions? That’s a question that only Craig Breslow and Paul Toboni could answer, but if there is still a path to land the type of talent that Abrams brings, then Breslow needs to do everything he can to get it done. 

Offensively, Abrams slots in as another left-handed hitter in a lineup that features quite a few lefties already, but his offensive firepower makes up for the redundancy. He’s slashing .295/.368/.570 with a .397 wOBA, 152 wRC+, and 3.9 fWAR. He’s slugged 27 home runs so far to go along with 19 stolen bases. There's really nothing you can do at the plate that the 25-year-old isn't doing well.

Abrams isn’t an opposite-field type hitter, and for a left-handed slugger that could potentially be bad news at Fenway Park where deep right field is essentially a second center field. But this isn't a real concern with this particular player; overlay his home spray chart over Fenway, and he doesn’t lose a single home run blast to right field. He might lose one to center, but he ends up gaining four in left field, and possibly one additional one in right thanks to the Pesky Pole. Adding that kind of offense to this team would instantly catapult them into pennant contention in a weak American League.

Before we drink too much of his Kool-Aid, though, there are two major roadblocks we have to acknowledge.

First, he’s as close to a defensive liability as you can get. Abrams currently ranks in the first percentile in Outs Above Average with a mystifying -12. For reference, Marcelo Mayer posted a flat 0 OAA at short and Trevor Story was a -3 OAA before his injury. We’ve lambasted the latter's defensive woes fairly regularly, so inserting someone who is quadruply worse at short than Story may be a tough sell. There's nowhere else on the roster to really slot him at the moment (unless second base is open in the wake of Mead's wrist injury), and moving Abrams off short would open up a gaping hole up the middle. That, specifically, brings us to the second downside.

Any deal that brings Abrams to Boston almost certainly involves top prospect, and likely future shortstop, Franklin Arias headed to Washington. With enough reps, it’s entirely likely that Mayer could take over short full time in the absence of Arias, but his offensive approach is going to need a lot of work once he’s healthy. It’s unlikely that Abrams would move positions this year, so Mayer would have the runway to get back into big-league shape, but the lockout is going to make things a bit more difficult for everyone next offseason. Both Mikey Romero and Kristian Campbell are sitting in Worcester and could be in the conversation next year, but neither is an ideal option either. For an Abrams trade to work, there has to be a plan for when he no longer can play shortstop as soon as 2027 (most scouts see his future at first base or a corner outfield spot, which are also logjammed at the moment).

Abrams offers tantalizing offensive potential as a member of the Boston Red Sox. He’s young, under control through 2028, and would likely be a candidate for an extension fairly quickly after the new CBA is agreed upon to begin the 2027 season. There are major question marks surrounding his defensive abilities and the price required to get him from Washington to Boston, but this is the kind of hitter you double-dip for.

View full article

[Dalas2100]

First of all, we should have gotten Abrams for Early.....

[Dalas2100]

If we're giving up Early