Should We Buy or Should We Sell Now - Trade Deadline 2026

[blue911]

I believe Dmitri Young hit 300 pounds while active, so the bar is set pretty high

Neither of the Fielders suffered from generous portions.

[Slateman]

Gimme a lil CJ Abrams for Hancock, Sloan, and Arroyo from the Mariners. Slide Nunez over to short and call up either arroyo or king to play 2B with Mead at 3B

Then do a little something to get two quality relievers. The daniel lynch/Jeff hoffman tier. Would cost about 5 brady house/christian frnaklin/abi ortiz/andrew pinckney/cayden wallace type guys total.

Our offense would still be good and our defense, rotation (in the short and long term), and bullpen would all be better

Hard pass on Hancock. Dude's K/9 drops to 6 whenever he loses Seattle's notorious batters eye

[IdahoNat]

Freak it, bring Corbin back too and blast the Boys are Back in Town at Nats park upon their arrival.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Freak it, bring Corbin back too and blast the Boys are Back in Town at Nats park upon their arrival.

on the bright side, Corbin's hurt and not back for  multiple weeks, so you could benefit from his  veteran leadership without actually having to have him pitch.

[GataNats]

Gimme a lil CJ Abrams for Hancock, Sloan, and Arroyo from the Mariners. Slide Nunez over to short and call up either arroyo or king to play 2B with Mead at 3B

Then do a little something to get two quality relievers. The daniel lynch/Jeff hoffman tier. Would cost about 5 brady house/christian frnaklin/abi ortiz/andrew pinckney/cayden wallace type guys total.

Our offense would still be good and our defense, rotation (in the short and long term), and bullpen would all be better

Can’t have zero pop at SS

[zimm_da_kid]

Can’t have zero pop at SS

well right now we have zero pop at 2b. it would be prioritizing defense at the position where defense is more important

[Ryan9009]

Ugh, why not even try switching them at least? I wonder if Nasim just watches CJ at short and constantly thinks about all the plays he would be making...

I still vote (not that its worth much) for a total sell off. CJ, Foster, Wood, Luis... Build things slowly, our best prospects are still teenagers, keep adding to that deep pool. We have potential to be the best farm in the game. Lines up perfectly with the potential work stoppage and a mostly empty payroll.

[IdahoNat]

Ugh, why not even try switching them at least? I wonder if Nasim just watches CJ at short and constantly thinks about all the plays he would be making...

I still vote (not that its worth much) for a total sell off. CJ, Foster, Wood, Luis... Build things slowly, our best prospects are still teenagers, keep adding to that deep pool. We have potential to be the best farm in the game. Lines up perfectly with the potential work stoppage and a mostly empty payroll.

Cause Abrams(and Wood) are far away the best players on the team, and just like in Hollywood, the stars have a little more sway than the other players on the team and you have to cater to their wants and needs. I'm not keen on selling any current players at this point. The bold move wouldn't be to sell those games, but to sell one of their blue chip prospects not named Willits or Sykora to bolster the roster. It's a move Rizzo would do, but I don't think Toboni has it in him sadly.

[welch]

I think Max only goes to a team with a high likelihood of making the playoffs.

I don't think such a team wants Max.

[SkinsNatFan21RIP]

I think the only way I would be fine with trading CJ(probably still wouldn’t be) is if Boston would part with Early and Eyanson. Outside of that I just have no interest.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I think the only way I would be fine with trading CJ(probably still wouldn’t be) is if Boston would part with Early and Eyanson. Outside of that I just have no interest.

I think they are going for Neto if Arte doesn't stop Mozeliak from dealing him. I think his power works better in Fenway. They need righty pop. OTOH, he's not clearly a better defender at SS (IOW, he stinks, too). 3 + years of control. Easy to shift to 2nd next year.

[aspenbubba]

I still vote (not that its worth much) for a total sell off. CJ, Foster, Wood, Luis... Build things slowly, our best prospects are still teenagers, keep adding to that deep pool. We have potential to be the best farm in the game. Lines up perfectly with the potential work stoppage and a mostly empty payroll.

Let’s say that Toboni agrees with you and he trades all four at 3 players each at AA and AAA level and maybe they throw in a few low level prospects. We receive 12 quality players back from the high level prospects. Realistically we could only hope that 6 players reach the show and perform. I don’t think that the six would equal the production of the 4 who we traded. Soto only garnered 3 ML players and Hassell.

[SkinsNatFan21RIP]

Ugh, why not even try switching them at least? I wonder if Nasim just watches CJ at short and constantly thinks about all the plays he would be making...

I still vote (not that its worth much) for a total sell off. CJ, Foster, Wood, Luis... Build things slowly, our best prospects are still teenagers, keep adding to that deep pool. We have potential to be the best farm in the game. Lines up perfectly with the potential work stoppage and a mostly empty payroll.

Trading Wood would KILL this fanbase. Kill it. Trading Abrams is already a terrible look when you’re contending but if you then sell off what amounts to a phenom that is from the DC area you’ve essentially told the fans you don’t care and there’s no reason for them to either. Also, who cares about having the best farm system? The orioles have/had an incredible farm system for years and still suck. People are too obsessed with prospects when most of them just turn out like Crews or Bobby Barrels. Pay Wood. Pay Abrams and sign pitchers in the offseason. It’s the easiest path to winning. Or pretend we can just keep trading everyone away and it will all work out 8 years down the road…

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Ben Clemens's top 50 trade value  series in Fangraphs is out. Nats place 2 on the list, Wood (#7) and Abrams (#45), with Eli Willlts getting an honorable mention. Links are in the final article.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2026-trade-value-nos-1-10/

Abrams is knocked down a bit due to his defense. Figure most teams would  have to move him mid-year to a position he's not played.

Wood is  in a group  with Junior Caminero and Nick Kurtz as a great bat with lots of years of control but who may ultimately be a DH.  Clemens says Wood is slightly more likely to remain in the field so he's ahead of the other two.

[Kevrock]

Trading CJ would be idiotic. I don’t know why people are so obsessed with the idea of deadline prospects. Most of these trades don’t work out.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Win and make it moot.

Try to sign him this off season. If that fails, then multiple teams will be in on him and will move him off SS un the spring. Now, I think the only team that would pursue him as a SS are the NYY.

[imref]

Gotta be buyers if we win tomorrow and are a game out of the WC.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Need tomorrow and to take the series v Toronto. Get to 3 over again.

[Smithian]

CJ is a tough one. We’ve seen his second half crashes before. I also think other teams are pricing that in.

I’m leaning now toward keeping him. Even losing half a season of control, him proving he could go a whole season would make his value sky rocket and also perhaps open Nationals to idea we need to play it out with him.

[welch]

Toboni has lost his trades. Bennet for Perales? Ford. who might hit 240-250 but has not shwoen he can catch? Gore??

He has gathered the worst bullpen I've ever seen in about 70 years of watching Washington baseball, plut Mets and Yankees from 1973 onward.

[GataNats]

CJ is a tough one. We’ve seen his second half crashes before. I also think other teams are pricing that in.

I’m leaning now toward keeping him. Even losing half a season of control, him proving he could go a whole season would make his value sky rocket and also perhaps open Nationals to idea we need to play it out with him.

We are well into the second half and he’s ratcheting up his first half. Sign the guy

[SkinsNatFan21RIP]

Toboni has lost his trades. Bennet for Perales? Ford. who might hit 240-250 but has not shwoen he can catch? Gore??

He has gathered the worst bullpen I've ever seen in about 70 years of watching Washington baseball, plut Mets and Yankees from 1973 onward.

Think of the trade he ultimately didn’t make with Abrams. Could you imagine watching this play out elsewhere after we dumped him for cheap lol.

[Natsinpwc]

Toboni has lost his trades. Bennet for Perales? Ford. who might hit 240-250 but has not shwoen he can catch? Gore??

He has gathered the worst bullpen I've ever seen in about 70 years of watching Washington baseball, plut Mets and Yankees from 1973 onward.

You can’t evaluate trades that quickly.  Need to wait like three years.

[Smithian]

Toboni has lost his trades. Bennet for Perales? Ford. who might hit 240-250 but has not shwoen he can catch? Gore??

He has gathered the worst bullpen I've ever seen in about 70 years of watching Washington baseball, plut Mets and Yankees from 1973 onward.

I personally like Gavin Fien, Ronny Cruz, and Devin Fitz-Gerald. They’ve struggled a bit after early challenge promotions, but overall

Fords track record gives me patience there. And when we made that trade, we didn’t expect to be sniffing .500 and for the bullpen to matter.

Bennett looks rough.

[Slateman]

Toboni has lost his trades. Bennet for Perales? Ford. who might hit 240-250 but has not shwoen he can catch? Gore??

He has gathered the worst bullpen I've ever seen in about 70 years of watching Washington baseball, plut Mets and Yankees from 1973 onward.

.240-.250 is major league average in today's game. And his catching seems fine.