CJ Abrams and the Nationals “held substantive discussions” a couple of attainable contract extension this previous spring, Barry Svrluga of The Washington Put up experiences. It isn’t identified how shut the 2 sides would possibly’ve gotten towards a long-term deal or whether or not or not an extension may nonetheless be struck sooner or later through the season. Most gamers want to not negotiate to any nice extent after Opening Day, but it surely’s attainable Abrams is perhaps extra open to locking up the primary large multi-year windfall of his professional profession.
If Abrams and his reps at Roc Nation Sports activities needed to extra totally dive into extension talks after Abrams had a extra established MLB observe report, that technique may need paid off handsomely given the shortstop’s red-hot begin to the season. Abrams is hitting .264/.329/.521 with seven dwelling runs over his first 156 plate appearances, together with eight stolen bases in 10 makes an attempt and an NL-best 4 triples. Whereas his onerous contact and stroll charges are somewhat subpar, Abrams’ sturdy .363 wOBA is definitely decrease than his .381 xwOBA.
The 23-year-old Abrams has been pegged for stardom because the Padres drafted him sixth general in 2019, which is why the Nats insisted on the shortstop’s inclusion within the commerce package deal acquired within the Juan Soto deal on the 2022 commerce deadline. Whereas Abrams hit a modest .246/.293/.383 over his first 916 MLB plate appearances in 2022-23, he additionally went yard 18 occasions final season and stole 47 bases in 51 makes an attempt. Again in February, MLBTR’s Nick Deeds profiled Abrams as a attainable extension candidate and floated the thought of an eight-year deal price $60M-$65M, with one or two membership choice years connected.
If Abrams retains up something near this degree of manufacturing over the complete 2024 season, his camp will certainly have a better determine in thoughts than $65M. As Svrluga notes, the Nationals’ observe report with extending cornerstone gamers is fairly spotty, as whereas some outstanding names (i.e. Stephen Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman, Keibert Ruiz) have been locked up, different notables like Soto, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Ian Desmond, and Anthony Rendon have been all both traded or let go by way of free company. Ruiz’s extension was signed simply final yr and is, subsequently, probably the most illustrative of how possession and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo would possibly function because the Nationals begin to emerge from this rebuilding interval, and the group continues to be keen to put money into sure gamers.
There technically isn’t any rush for both Abrams or the Nationals to succeed in a deal since Abrams is below arbitration management by the 2028 season. Since Abrams is wanting very more likely to qualify for Tremendous Two standing and an additional yr of arb eligibility, signing the shortstop to an extension would give the Nationals some additional measure of value certainty over the younger star relatively than watch his price ticket proceed to rise in his arbitration years. From Abrams’ perspective, he’s setting himself up for a really good first-time determine for his preliminary journey by the arb course of, which ought to enhance his earnings in every subsequent yr if he continues to supply.
