With just a handful of games remaining in a long, tough year filled with growing pains for the Washington Nationals, the news on Saturday was a jolt that there is still some growing that needs to be done. CJ Abrams, a 23-year-old All-Star shortstop and member of the young core GM Mike Rizzo is hoping to build around to be a staple of the team's next championship contender, was sent down to the minor leagues for the remainder of the year.
"He was optioned to Triple-A like a lot of players are... it was not performance-based and we felt it was in the best interest of the player and the organization to do so," Rizzo said during his final weekly appearance for the 2024 season on Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
"And it's an internal issue, that we're gonna keep internal. It's a family matter that we keep in the family," Rizzo continued. "Suffice it to say, it's not the end of the world for CJ, it's not the end of the world for the Nationals. It's something that happens over the course of time, especially with young players.
"And we love CJ, we care for CJ, we're in constant communication with he and his agent. And we still have a great relationship and it's something that we felt was needed for him and for the organization."
Reports indicate Abrams stayed out all night at a Chicago-area Casino into the early hours of Friday morning (some reports suggested 8 a.m. local time) before a 1 p.m. first pitch that day. In the game, Abrams batted lead-off and played shortstop in the game, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. (Rizzo did not address specifics of the incident with the Junkies.)
"We have a standard here with the Nationals, we've had it for a lot of years and when players don't reach those standards we have to do what's in the best interest of the organization," Rizzo told 106.7 The Fan. "But often, these things are done with the best interest of the player involved. And certainly, with this situation, the interest of CJ Abrams was first and foremost in our mind and we thought that it rose to not where we wanted to be with the Nats.
"I always say, and it's very Pollyanna-ish at times, we really sincerely do care about the name in the front of the jersey more than the name on the back of the jersey and that a constant that we have here. It's about teamwork and being a great teammate and that type of thing.
"And when players fail to reach those standards we have to do something to get them back into the mode of Nationals and teammate and big leagues, and we felt it was warranted in this case."
Rizzo added that this is "part of the process, especially on young, re-building teams that these things happen. It's not the first time we've done it here with the Nationals and probably, unfortunately, won't be the last."
The GM declined to get into how Abrams reacted to the news, but said he, Abrams and manager Davey Martinez "had a long conversation and we're gonna keep it at that."
Speaking in general terms about the team's policies and not the specific incident with Abrams, the GM told the Junkies the organization doesn't have a "specific time for a curfew" when at home, adding the manager's team rules are "very reliant on the player, being a good teammate and being a good Washington National."
"We don't have a specific 'you have to be in at 11 o'clock' type of thing because it's the big leagues, and we conduct ourselves like a major league franchise," Rizzo said. "And you have to prepare yourself to perform the next day at your job and these guys monitor themselves and over the course of the year they know what it takes to be ready to play.'
Speaking with reporters on Saturday, Martinez revealed he and Abrams had a long, emotional conversation – during which the two wept together – on Friday.
"For me, it's about taking care of the person first, and not the player, and I'm going to do everything I can to help him," Martinez said on Saturday, via ESPN. "I love the kid. He's a good kid. He's going to be back."
The Nats' skipper added he hopes the young shorstop learns and grows from this very public setback.
"I'm hoping that he understands and that he becomes a better person and understands what his job means here for us, the Nats family," Martinez said. "We're going to get it right, and he's going to help us win games."
Abrams, who was selected to his first All-Star team earlier this year, finished the year with 29 doubles and 20 home runs and 65 RBI and a .246/.314/.433 slash for a .747 OPS. All of those are career highs in just 138 games.