One former All-Star who could be the perfect Pirates trade target

It's no secret that the Pittsburgh Pirates need to add multiple hitters this offseason. The Bucs lost 91 games in 2025 despite sporting the seventh-best ERA in MLB, thanks to an offense that scored 14 fewer runs, hit 31 fewer home runs, and slugged 23 points lower than any other team.

As was the case last winter with Spencer Horwitz, the Pirates need to be active on the trade front, and still possess the pitching and prospect capital necessary to do so. But unlike last winter, this team can't afford to break camp without adding multiple impact bats. A search for controllable, accomplished hitters could lead to trade talks with the Washington Nationals.

The Nationals surprisingly lost 96 games last season, and with a new front office in place, a full-scale rebuild could soon be underway. Should they decide to float some of their key players on the trade market, the Pirates should pursue shortstop CJ Abrams.

Abrams, who is still only 25, was a first-round pick by the Padres in 2019 and was part of the massive trade package San Diego sent to Washington for Juan Soto in 2022. At the time of that deal, he was just 46 games into his MLB career and was a top-10 prospect across all of baseball according to multiple publications.

Abrams has consistently produced strong numbers in his three full seasons with the Nationals. He posted at least 3.4 bWAR, 18 home runs, five triples, and 31 stolen bases in each of those three seasons. He was a positive defender (by defensive runs saved) twice in that span and made the National League All-Star team in 2023.

He's posted decent power numbers, especially for a middle infielder, but he's not a typical slugger—he was in the 29th percentile in average exit velocity and the 33rd percentile in hard-hit rate among qualified hitters in 2025. But the way he generates power makes him a great fit for PNC Park—he's a left-handed hitter who pulls fly balls.

Abrams posted a 73rd-percentile pull air rate in 2025, with 22.2% of his batted balls being fly balls to right field. With the Pirates playing in a home ballpark that strongly favors left-handed hitters, a lefty pull hitter like Abrams (and also one with plus speed who can rack up extra-base hits on balls in the gap and down the line) would naturally be an excellent fit.

Almost exclusively a shortstop as a major leaguer, Abrams has seen his defensive runs saved total decrease in three straight seasons. By Statcast's outs above average, he was one of the worst defenders at any position in MLB in 2025. Abrams would only have to hold down the shortstop position in Pittsburgh until Konnor Griffin, the near-consensus No. 1 prospect in the sport, gets the call (which, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan, might not be long at all). At that point, Abrams could slide to second base, where he has some experience and would represent less of a defensive challenge. Nick Gonzales' development to this point certainly shouldn't preclude the Pirates from pursuing Abrams with a potential move to second base in mind.

From a financial perspective, Abrams wouldn't be difficult to fit into the team's 2026 equation. He is entering his first season of arbitration eligibility and is projected to earn $5.6 million next season. Trading for a player like Abrams would likely cost some young pitching, which the Pirates possess in spades, but would also enable the club to still try to add in free agency, as they claim to intend to do.

Another reason Pittsburgh and Washington could line up as trade partners pertains to the Nationals' revamped front office. After hiring Boston's Paul Toboni to take over as president of baseball operations, Toboni poached Justin Horowitz, the Pirates' director of amateur scouting, to serve as his assistant general manager in Washington.

Toboni and Horowitz came up through the Red Sox's front office together and are now joining forces again with the Nationals. Horowitz's familiarity with the Pirates—he ran the last two drafts and surely has strong personal relationships with both players and executives in Pittsburgh—could help in facilitating an impactful deal between the clubs.

CJ Abrams would represent a massive upgrade to the Pirates' dreadful lineup.

The Pirates need to add offense in the worst way and will likely need to utilize the trade market and free agency to do so. Whether or not Abrams is a solution remains to be seen, but he would be an excellent fit—a young, left-handed hitter with speed and power who can slot in at the top of the lineup. He's produced consistently over multiple seasons and is likely just now entering his prime. Even if the Nationals aren't eager to move him, this is an option that Ben Cherington and the Pirates need to consider.