The Washington Nationals are looking to be a competent ball club heading into the 2026 season. Heading into his first season at the helm after taking over a sinking ship, new President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni has had a ton on his to-do list up to this point.
To his credit, he has done a masterful job so far in his brief tenure, as he has outfitted his front office staff well, bringing in a ton of young and up-and-coming minds around the league to work around him, and also has hired an entirely new coaching staff. However, after making a few minor league transactions and swinging a massive trade to get a new catcher, Toboni's busiest days of the offseason might still be ahead of him.
As of right now, the 2026 Winter Meetings are taking place in Orlando, and the Nationals continue to find themselves at the center of a lot of rumors for being a last place team in 2025. Part of that is due to MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams, two young All-Stars and large pieces in the return for Juan Soto a few years back, could potentially be had in a trade...what?
Now, before you freak out reading that, it's important to note that Toboni did not necessarily say that Abrams and Gore are going to be traded, but did mention that the Nationals would be "negligent" not to listen on both players, according to Chelsea Janes from the Washington Post. Janes also mentioned Toboni used the phrase "open-minded" repeatedly, and seemed to indicate the bar would obviously be high heading to move either piece.
Gore's potential availability should come as no surprise, as we have detailed at length on this site, but Abrams' name coming up in trade talks might come as a mild shock to some. While Abrams does still have 3 years of team control left, his long-term future is likely not at shortstop, however with new coaching in place, perhaps the organization feels that Abrams still has more potential that he will be able to tap into.
However, the big wrinkle is that Toboni, who is either keeping up a superb poker face or was genuinely surprised at the news about CJ Abrams being involved in trade rumors, seemed to paint the picture that he had no idea his name was being thrown around in talks. Toboni mentioned in this clip provided by TalkNats, that he hadn't seen the 'CJ Abrams stuff until this morning,' and that he hadn't gotten a chance to discuss anything of the sort with Abrams himself.
Again, this could be a classic negotiating tactic in order to build up more leverage from potential suitors of Abrams, but since we don't have any sort of track record to go off of, we may as well take Toboni at his word for now. If Abrams is dealt in the coming days, this clip will be a fun one to look back on, but Toboni's reaction afterwards seemed to pour enough cold water on it regardless.
As of right now, it is impossible to say whether one, both, or neither of them will be dealt during the Winter Meetings, but it seems more likely than not that MacKenzie Gore has pitched his final game in a Nationals uniform. The same can't be definitively said about Abrams for now, but time will tell very soon.
Do you think the Nationals should trade either CJ Abrams or MacKenzie Gore? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.