CJ Abrams is making it very hard to trade him

The Nationals are supposed to be sellers, or at least trade-deadline-curious, with a shortstop everyone in baseball wants. Instead CJ Abrams keeps hitting baseballs into the Coors Field seats and making the front office's decision that much tougher. On July 21 he took Rockies righty Michael Lorenzen deep twice, a two-run shot in the first inning and another two-run blast his next time up, finishing the night 2-for-3 with 4 RBI.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Blutman's MLB Pick of the Day from Jersey Jerry: CJ Abrams Home Run @DraftKings #DKPartner

Jersey Jerry's pick that night was simple: CJ Abrams homers. Then Abrams actually went and did it, twice, which is the kind of thing that makes a picker look like a genius and a fan base start dreaming about what this lineup could look like come October.

Barstool Baseball

@StoolBaseball

CJ Abrams is so good

Steven Cheah summed up the night plainly on X, crediting the pickers for calling it. It's the kind of moment that turns a stat-line into a storyline, and Abrams has had plenty of those lately — he's riding a stretch of four homers in his last three games and an OPS north of 1.000 for the month of July.

That production is exactly why the trade buzz won't die down. Abrams is on track for a second straight All-Star nod, he's got two more years of club control before free agency, and Washington hasn't locked him up on an extension. With the Nationals sitting around.500 and in the thick of the wild card race, the front office is reportedly leaning toward holding onto him rather than blowing up a roster that's suddenly relevant again — but rival teams like the Braves, Yankees, Rays and Blue Jays are said to be watching closely in case that changes before the August 3 deadline.

PFT Commenter

@PFTCommenter

Attn Nats. Do not trade CJ Abrams. But if we do trade CJ Abrams im gona need everything in their farm system

PFTCommenter's take is basically the fan consensus in one tweet: don't trade him, but if you do, empty the farm system doing it. That's a heavy price for a shortstop who's making the case, at-bat by at-bat, that he's worth more to Washington in the lineup than as a trade chip. The deadline is closing in fast, and every homer like Tuesday's makes it a little harder for the Nationals to pick up the phone.