Nats have 'ears open,' but in no rush to move Gore, Abrams

Orlando, Fla. -- Three years ago, the Nationals acquired left-hander MacKenzie Gore and shortstop CJ Abrams in the Juan Soto blockbuster with the vision of them becoming centerpieces of the club's future. This offseason, Gore and Abrams are at the forefront of trade buzz at the 2025 Winter Meetings.

The Nationals, under the new leadership of president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, have received interest in both young players. Per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, multiple executives expect Gore to be on the move, and they view Abrams as a player who “could be traded.”

“I think it would just be kind of negligent to not entertain it,” Toboni said on Monday. “CJ or otherwise, we’ll have our ears open. And the worst that can happen is we say ‘no’ and we go back to having our regularly scheduled programming and go from there.”

Gore, 26, has the draw of being one of the top controllable starters in baseball. He is entering his second of three arbitration years, when he will be due for a raise over the $2.89 million he earned in 2025.

Abrams, who turned 25 on Oct. 3, is under team control through the 2028 season and he is arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason.

“[I’m] not necessarily surprised, but I would say it’s just fit expectations,” Toboni said of the interest level in Nationals players. “A lot of that is we have some really good players that teams are interested in. And if they’re willing to ‘throw down,’ so to speak, it’s now just up to us, like, 'Hey, do we want to seriously entertain these offers or do we want to move forward with trying to get the best out of these players?'”

Starting pitchers -- especially lefties -- are coveted across the Majors, and the price for Gore would be considerable. Gore is coming off his first All-Star season, in which he went 5-15 with a 4.17 ERA while averaging 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

While Gore is the Nationals' ace (he struck out a historic 13 against the Phillies on Opening Day), they would have enough starters to construct a rotation for next season as the roster currently stands. Jake Irvin, Cade Cavalli, Brad Lord, Andrew Alvarez and Mitchell Parker are under contract, and Josiah Gray, DJ Herz and Trevor Williams also are expected to return from injury next season. Washington still can add to the rotation via free agency or trades.

When asked how the Nationals would determine how high the bar would be to trade Gore, Toboni said, “My guess is that, more than anything, if we're going to entertain something for MacKenzie -- you said it -- we're going to hold a really high bar. Thinking of more than that, we’re probably going to want a player that can help us for years to come, or multiple players. But that’s all TBD. We don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves one way or the other. We’ll just stay open-minded.”

Part of the open-mindedness is hearing out interest in all players, including Abrams.

Last season, Abrams slashed .257/.315/.433 with a .748 OPS and recorded 30-plus stolen bases for the third consecutive year. His 91.2 percent stolen-base rate ranked second in the National League.

Toboni noted Abrams has had “unbelievable contact ability” since high school, and the combination of his speed, athleticism and developing power give him the “makings of a pretty special player.” Defensively, Toboni described Abrams as a “super athlete” with potential the Nats still can tap into.

If the Nationals found an appealing deal for Abrams this winter, they could tab Nasim Nuñez at shortstop for a solution currently on the roster. Or they could seek a shortstop from outside of the organization.

Even if the Nats stay put this offseason, expect to continue hearing Abrams’ name come up in trade buzz. Washington has Minor League depth at shortstop, including the club's No. 8 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, Seaver King (Major League ETA 2027) and its top prospect, 18-year-old Eli Willits (Major League ETA ‘29).

“It’s tricky, because we're sitting here thinking to ourselves, like, 'Gosh, it's going to be really fun to see a player achieve X, Y and Z once we put them in this environment to develop,'” Toboni said. “At the same time -- I don't want to be redundant with what I just keep saying -- but we do have to be open-minded when other teams come our way and give strong offers. I think it's all an individual case. … We just put our heads together and think what a reasonable return would be and then we stay disciplined.”

The Nationals already made a splash in the trade market on Saturday when they sent their closer Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners in exchange for catcher Harry Ford (the Nationals' No. 2 prospect, No. 42 overall) and righty prospect Isaac Lyon.

“[Trades] will be one avenue, but one of a few, I think,” Toboni said. “We want to be active in all areas -- whether that’s Minor League free agency, Major League free agency, waivers, the Rule 5 [Draft], whatever it is. If we have an opportunity to be active and to upgrade the team, we’re going to do it.”