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With the Winter Meetings out of the way, there will be lots of opportunities for baseball matchmaking to occur. With Carlos Correa long out the door, the Minnesota Twins could turn their attention to another shortstop on the trade market to bolster their current infield core. Rumors around the Washington Nationals have been heavy, and many of those rumblings have centered on the club's current shortstop, CJ Abrams. Abrams is a player who could help the Twins achieve their short- and long-term roster goals.
As it stands, the Twins are short on major-league experience at each of their infield positions. Abrams debuted in 2022 and since then, he's played in the majority of three major-league seasons. While Abrams would have the most experience under his belt of anyone currently in Minnesota if he joined the Twins roster, he is also only 25 years old; is hitting his first year of arbitration; and very well could grow with the other young players in the Twins system.
Abrams is coming off his best season of offensive production, wherein he hit .257/.315/.433 and launched 19 home runs. Twins shortstops, meanwhile, hit .251/.307/.380 and managed just 17 home runs. Abrams would be able to provide improved offensive production at a prime defensive position. Whoever acquires Abrams would hope his growth and increased production continue—although they'll also need to reckon with the need to move him off shortstop.
Abrams also fits the mold of “younger and faster,” if the Twins want to continue leaning into the increased baserunning aggressiveness they displayed toward the end of 2025. In the past three seasons, Abrams has stolen 47, 31, and 31 bases. Adding him would bring a well-established base-stealing threat to the Twins roster. Statcast tracked Abrams at 28.2 ft/s in sprint speed, and he was worth 7 baserunning runs, according to Baseball Savant.
Defense is the bugaboo. Abrams has not been a good defender at the shortstop position, no matter the metric you look at. He produced -5 Defensive Runs Saved and -9 Outs Above Average this past season. The OAA metric was actually an improvement over a -14 in 2024. Shortstop wouldn’t have to be Abrams's position with the Twins, though, as Brooks Lee could continue to be penciled in at that spot. Lee turned in -1 OAA with an extended run after the Correa trade. If defense is a priority, moving Abrams to third (or second) is a real possibility. Regardless of the position Abrams would fill with the Twins, adding him would create a logjam in the infield, unless one of those current infielders is part of the package that fetches the young shortstop.
While the Derek Shelton hire has seemed positive for Royce Lewis, the mercurial infielder has not been shy about expressing his displeasure with the direction of the clubhouse in the past. Overall, Lewis’s production has only trended downward since he entered the league. He did rebound in the second half of the season and posted a .723 OPS, giving some optimism for 2026. A trade for Abrams could provide a perfect opportunity to give Lewis a change of scenery and truly revitalize his career. It also points to the sort of "MLB player-for-MLB player" trade that Derek Falvey mentioned is more likely this time of year—not unlike Pablo Lopez for Luis Arraez.
If they trade Abrams, the Nationals will certainly want to reload their own lineup, and Lewis would give them someone who has produced in the majors and is still on the front end of his career. The Twins could then play Lee and Abrams on the left side of the infield.
Willy Adames was also traded when he was 25. The then-Ray was traded (along with relief pitcher Trevor Richards) to the Brewers for pitchers J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen. With that as a deal to compare potential value in an Abrams deal, and the reality that there may be some legitimate competition for Abrams, the Twins would need to kick a significant prospect into the deal in addition to Lewis.
The Twins do have enough prospects to get the deal done while keeping Lewis, if they choose to go that route. If they did so, they would just need to get creative with the infield. Luke Keaschall would be able to shift to first base or even be a right-handed option for the outfield. It doesn’t create the most straightforward path to opportunities for each player and their development, but it could be accomplished. A challenge-plus trade makes the most sense, though. Washington could roll the dice on Lewis, while the Twins get better immediately and leverage their strong farm system to make the upgrade from Lewis to Abrams.
The Twins need to give their lineup a shot in the arm, and a young, dynamic player like Abrams could provide that. Best-case, the Twins catch a player (like the Brewers did with Adames) hitting the prime of his career. Carlos Correa's signing(s) didn't quite deliver the high-impact, prime-aged infield dynamism the team expected. This kind of trade could do so.
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- tarheeltwinsfan and PDX Twin
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