With the Winter Meetings wrapped up, only one trade over the last week may not mean a quiet offseason with president of baseball operations Paul Toboni continuing conversations with teams surrounding shortstop CJ Abrams and pitcher MacKenzie Gore.
The New York Yankees were reported as a team involved in discussions through the week with Toboni, but another team reportedly have held discussions about the two Nationals stars, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
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“The Royals have been active on the trade market too, looking to acquire another outfielder. They have discussed acquiring Jarren Duran from the Boston Red Sox and inquired about pitcher MacKenzie Gore and infielder CJ Abrams from the Washington Nationals, according to sources,” Passan reported.
The news came after Kansas City agreed to a five-year, $57.5 million extension with Gold Glove winner and third baseman Maikel Garcia on Friday.
What the haul would look like for both is unclear, though it’s expected the Nationals would only part for the right return price with Abrams viewed as more unlikely to be moved than Abrams. That was in line with Toboni’s interview to kick off the Winter Meetings, noting he “didn’t think that was a thing” until news surfaced last week of a potential departure.
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“I haven’t talked to CJ about this. CJ and I have been talking – I chatted with him live the other day. MacKenzie [Gore] was different because I saw this stuff coming up with MacKenzie and I’m like man, I’m going to call him just because if I put myself in MacKenzie’s shoes, I’m probably wanting to hear if this is real or not or if this is BS,” Toboni said. “And more than that, man, I said it the other day, one of the most gratifying parts for me is building relationships with staff and players. To me, it’s like I had already talked to MacKenzie, I was just calling again to check in to say by the way, like you’re going to see this and this is how I think through it. If you have any questions, hit me up whenever you want. That’s how I’d approach it with anyone. At the same time, I’m not sure it’s the best thing to set a standard that every single time someone’s name pops up in the media, I’m giving them a call and updating them. Trying to balance those two things but so much of this in my opinion comes down to relationships. If you have great ones, they trust what you’re telling them and want to keep them informed but probably don’t want to overcommunicate too.”