The news broke in the pre-game that the Washington Nationals were sending All-Star CJ Abrams down to Triple-A even though their season ends tomorrow. Instead, Abrams will be sent directly to the Nats’ facility in West Palm Beach making the move to Triple-A just a procedural move.
We broke the news that the Abrams demotion was about off-the-field issues. Now those issues can creep into the clubhouse and maybe onto the field in diminished performance.
Manager Dave Martinez addressed the move by stating, “It’s an internal issue… I’m not going to delve into specifics or discuss them publicly because I need to maintain a positive atmosphere within the team. I have other players to support. I’ll continue to support CJ. He’s a vital part of our Nats family, and he will continue to be. However, for now, this is the best course of action.”
According to ESPN on news that broke after our tweet, “The Washington Nationals demoted shortstop C.J. Abrams to the minor leagues because he stayed out all night at a Chicago casino before a day game against the Cubs, sources told @JesseRogersESPN. … He was informed of the demotion Friday night, sources said. He will be sent to West Palm Beach, Florida, home of the Nationals’ minor league complex.”
“I just want it to be known it wasn’t performance-based. It’s an internal issue. I’m not going to give specifics.”
— manager Dave Martinez said before the game
We received plenty of messages that Abrams was a regular at the MGM casino in Maryland, and the team was supposedly aware. Source said that playing table games was allowed at a casino as long as he was not betting on baseball which was not an issue here. But the source said that Abrams was told that if the gambling interfered with his baseball — he would be disciplined.
General manager Mike Rizzo handled the situation instead of trying to take care of this another way. Once Abrams was demoted, the truth would come out.
On Thursday night, Abrams had a strong performance, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and two stolen bases in the Nats’ 7-6 loss to the Cubs. He also joined the exclusive 20/30 club with his 30th steal in the game on Thursday to go with his 20 home runs. The only other player in Nats’ history to achieve those stats was Alfonso Soriano in 2006 in his 40/40 season. The problem with Abrams was that if the rumors are true on ESPN that Abrams was in the casino until 8 am on Friday morning for a 1:20 PM game that afternoon, his off-the-field issues might have affected his on-the-field issues. In the game yesterday, Abrams went 0-for-3 with a walk.
According to The Nats Report, “the front office finally reached its breaking point on Friday when they witnessed Abrams’s lack of effort during a play in which catcher Drew Millas attempted to pick off Seiya Suzuki in the bottom of the eighth inning. Millas threw a sharp throw, but Abrams was slow to react and missed the catch, allowing Suzuki to reach base safely.”
Going into this offseason, there were already question marks on Abrams who has the worst OAA defense in all of the Major Leagues at -18. His poor defense has caused his team 13-runs per the statistic. Imagine a shortstop that the Nats are facing in Dansby Swanson has saved 12 runs — that is a +30 runs saved from Abrams’ output. That is one run for every game in a month. So yes, the Nats have a real issue with Abrams on the field. Many times the Abrams defense looked like a lack of effort going after balls and poor form. Abrams defense declined from last year when he was a -9 fielder. So why did he get that much worse?
Abrams, 23, went from an All-Star this year into a deep slump with the bat where he went his final 56-games of this season batting only .191 with a .575 OPS. His value was built on his offense, and he was the Nats best hitter for the first half of the season.
Knowing how Abrams season ended, what will the team do with him? Per Martinez, Abrams will come into camp with the Nats — and presumably be the shortstop — but there has to be some pause there. Will Abrams get his stuff together? Will he work on his defense? Can he clean up his off-the-field issues?
With the Abrams drama in the pre-game, this could have overshadowed everything — but it didn’t. His teammate with San Diego, MacKenzie Gore, was a difference maker today while taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning. Gore was traded with Abrams and James Wood and others from San Diego for Juan Soto.
“CJ is family. We’ve played together our whole big league careers. It’s a tough situation for me too.”
— Gore said after the game
“I’m always going to be here for CJ in this situation.”
If anything Gore looked extra motivated in this game. The team responded well in this game and beat the Cubs 5-1. The win ended the team’s five game losing streak on the way to the Nationals 69th win of the season.
