The Boston Red Sox's infield has been impossibly bad on offense this year, particularly when you subtract first baseman Willson Contreras.
Marcelo Mayer, Caleb Durbin, and the injured Trevor Story all got off to starts ranging from just slow to absolutely brutal. If Boston is going to be in any sort of buying mood at the trade deadline, the infield figures to be an easy target to upgrade the offense.
While we're still two months out from the trade deadline, one baseball writer wasn't wasting time this week in identifying a potential target for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
In a Tuesday article from Bleacher Report, writer Kerry Miller predicted that the Red Sox would add an infielder before the Aug. 3 deadline. Of all the names he pitched as potential fits, the most attractive at the moment was probably Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams, who is off to a stellar start for a surprisingly hot team.
"The big fish is Washington's CJ Abrams, except the Nationals have won 20 of their last 33 and maybe won't be deadline sellers for the first time since 2020? With that pitching staff, though, it still feels like fools' gold," Miller wrote. "At any rate, none of the forecasting models even have Washington at 20 percent odds of making the postseason. And if Abrams is available, Boston may well be his next home."
Abrams, 25, sported a .926 OPS and 12 home runs entering play on Tuesday. He's a subpar defender at his position and might one day be shifted to second base, but if his bat is taking a jump (his OPS as an All-Star in 2024 ended up at only .747), he'll be a name every team wants.
The Nationals' front office is led by former Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni, so if there's any farm system Washington might want to pilfer in a haul for Abrams, Boston might be at the top of the list.
But again, that depends on Washington's willingness to sell at all, and Abrams doesn't necessarily have to go anywhere with 2 1/2 more years until free agency.