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. Those issues can creep into the clubhouse and maybe onto the field in diminished performance.
There was a delay to the start of Manager Dave Martinez‘s pre-game media session. Of course when it began, all of the questions were about Abrams, and Martinez did indeed confirm our report that this demotion was all about off-the-field issues after The Athletic first indicated the demotion was about Abrams’ second half performance. Martinez addressed the decision by stating, “I just want it to be known it wasn’t performance-based. … It’s an internal issue. We had our moments, we sat here, and we weeped together. As I always say, it’s about taking care of the person first — and not the player. I’m going to do everything I can to help him. I love the kid. He’s a good kid, and he’s going to be back. He’s going to be missed, as we all know, but it had nothing to do with his performance. The kid was a 20/30 guy. I know he struggled a little bit, but so does every young player.”
According to ESPN on news that broke at 1:52 PM EDT, “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
“I assure you that he’ll be better, he will be. We talked a long time yesterday, and last time before we made any decisions. I know that he wants to be here. He expressed that very much. He said he’s going to miss his teammates. But, like I said, without getting into any details, this to me, was the right thing to do.”
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 by going with the demotion instead of trying to take care of this another way such as a suspension or doing nothing. Once Abrams was demoted, the rumors that had been out there for months, came to the surface.
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 CDT game that afternoon, his off-the-field issues might have affected his on-the-field performance because in the game yesterday, Abrams went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and some questionable defense in a Nats loss.
According to The Nats Report, “the front office finally reached its breaking point on Friday when they witnessed Abrams’ 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 even before these off-the-field issues became public, there were already question marks on Abrams who has the worst OAA defense in all of the Major Leagues at -17.0. His poor defense has cost his team 13-runs per the statistic. Imagine a shortstop that the Nats are facing in Dansby Swanson who has saved 12 runs for his team — that is a +25 runs saved differential from Abrams’ output. That is nearly one run for every game in a month. So yes, the Nats already had 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 -9.0 fielder. So why did he get that much worse?
Abrams, 23, went from an All-Star this year into a deep slump in early July 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 baserunning, 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 Spring Training 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?
“I mean, I love D.C., love the fans. I’m just going out there and trying to play how I play every day. Just trying to get wins for the team. That’s all I think about.”
— Abrams said during a hot streak in May 2024
Maybe somewhere Abrams’ thinking went down a different path. As of this writing, neither Abrams or his agency through Brodie Van Wagenen of Roc Nation have issued a public statement. Many times you will see a contrite athlete take ownership of their failure and apologize and talk about how they will change in the future. Nothing yet, we will update if that happens. If this is some addictive behavior, you hope for Abrams, as a person, that he can overcome this.
Keep in mind that Abrams had so much promise that the Nationals reportedly have talked about giving Abrams a long-term contract extension in Spring Training that he did not happen. The Nats looked at him as the future superstar of this team. “He’s one of those great young players that you’d love to have here forever,” Rizzo said in May 2024. “It’s something that — we’re certainly not oblivious to reaching out. But, as you know, it’s hard.”
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.
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 27:
“He’s still our guy. We love him, and he’s going to be a great player for us. Optioning him out wasn’t the end of the world. We have a standard here, and we have to keep people accountable. He still has a great upside and still going to be, in our minds, a great major league shortstop.”
— Rizzo said before the final 2024 series at Nationals Park.
“He got the message loud and clear. We had a long discussion with him. He knows the way we feel about him, the way I feel personally.”
Rizzo also said he has had discussions with Abrams’ agent, and that Abrams is still working out at the team’s facility in West Palm Beach.
