Nationals Exceed Expectations: Will They Be Buyers or Sellers at the Deadline?

The Nationals have taken a step forward this season. Despite turnover throughout the organization, from the coaching staff to the scouting department and front office, Washington has hovered around .500 for much of the year and entered Friday with a 35-34 record.

The Nationals didn't win their 40th game last season until July 21. They're knocking on that door in the middle of June, a sign of progress.

"The biggest thing for me is that every single member on the team, staff and player, are pulling on the same end of the rope and there's not one person questioning that," first-year Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni told CBS Sports. "And forget our wins and losses for a second, like that's just a really fun thing to be around, I think, is why people love sports. You can join together and try to achieve something bigger than yourself."

The wins and losses, in the grand scheme, likely won't change Toboni's approach. He arrived with a vision for how he wanted to build the Nationals and, despite the club's competitiveness and the emergence of a promising young core, the organization remains focused on evaluating its roster over the long term.

That process includes players like James Wood and CJ Abrams . While both are viewed as foundational pieces by many around the game, rival evaluators see Abrams as a much more realistic trade candidate if Washington wants to make a significant move in the next seven-plus weeks.

"If you're asking whether they're studs on what we hope to be a playoff-caliber team, then yeah," Toboni said. "I think the whole league saw them as good players last year. I think that the league is looking at them as, 'Hey, these are these players at the top of their craft at each of their respective positions, which makes me go back to the fact that we're super fortunate to have them on our club."

So, would it make sense for Washington to split up its young core?

Probably not, though Abrams (who is under team control as an arbitration-eligible player through the 2028 season) is more gettable.

Wood, meanwhile, appears as though he's a once-in-a-generation type of player. The kind franchises spend years searching for. One who looks capable of anchoring an organization for the next decade. At 23, he's already reached another level, batting .271/.407/.539 with a .941 OPS and 18 home runs in 69 games.

His strike-zone discipline, already one of his defining traits, has taken another step forward. According to Baseball Savant, Wood has improved from the 74th percentile to the 87th percentile in chase rate while drawing an NL-leading 56 walks. Opposing pitchers have fewer places to hide. They can nibble and risk a free pass, or they can challenge him in the strike zone. When they do, Wood has increasingly made them pay.

"He's forcing pitchers to come over the white," Toboni said. "You can imagine what it's like for a pitcher to have to get over the middle of the plate to this dude. I think we're observing him mature as a hitter, which is unique in that he was already a really mature hitter. But I think he's taken it to another level."

Abrams ranks as one of the worst defenders in baseball at shortstop. A move off the position could be in his future. But at the dish, the 24-year-old is also having a year. Abrams enters the weekend slashing .287/.378/.526 with a .905 OPS and 14 homers. His OPS is the best in the majors at his position.

"He's exceptionally clear-minded when he's walking into the box, and I think that lends to a ton of confidence, and I think the rest of the team feeds off that as well," Toboni said.

Abrams will draw interest ahead of the trade deadline, but if the Nationals continue to hover around .500 and remain in the postseason conversation, an offseason move might make more sense. The Yankees and Cardinals have been floated as potential Abrams landing spots, but deals involving young, controllable stars have become increasingly rare at the deadline. The asking prices have grown so steep, that many clubs prefer to wait until the winter when more teams are willing to engage.

Plus, what would the Yankees be willing to part with? Any deal for Abrams would likely require a significant return.

The same question applies to the Cardinals, where Chaim Bloom has spent his first year reshaping the organization. Bloom's vision has been to rebuild the farm system while keeping a competitive club on the field. St. Louis has managed both so far, entering Friday in possession of the NL's top Wild Card spot at 37-29. But even with the club's early success, there is little reason to believe Bloom would abandon the long-term plan he put in place.

Currently, the Nationals are playing meaningful baseball. They're doing it in a division filled with some of the sport's biggest stars.

At least for now, they have two of their own.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/nationals-cj-abrams-trade-deadline/)._