Washington Nationals Dave Martinez Speaks Out About CJ Abrams Demotion

The Washington Nationals manager opened up about his All-Star being disciplined by the team.

Jul 22, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez (4) celebrates with Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams (5) after their game San Francisco Giants at Nationals Park. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Over the weekend, the Washington Nationals made an unprecedented move, looking to send a message to a talented young player.

Shortstop CJ Abrams, who was the team’s lone All-Star representative at the game this summer, was demoted hours ahead of a game against the Chicago Cubs.

It has been reported that he was out at a casino until at least 8 a.m. despite the first pitch being at 1 p.m. and hit the players hard.

Despite struggles in the second half of the season at the plate, the Nationals weren’t giving up on their young middle infielder. But, they are looking to set the tone for the future and you need to be all in.

It will be interesting to see how Abrams responds to this move. He can take it in stride, work hard at West Palm Beach readying himself for a potential call-up.

That would cement his status as a core foundational piece moving forward.

If his reaction is negative, sulking after the demotion and feeling singled out, his career trajectory will change.

The latter is what everyone is hoping to avoid. One person who only sees growth coming from the unfortunate situation is manager Dave Martinez.

He spoke very highly of Abrams and is confident his All-Star will come back a better player and person because of it.

“I assure you that he’ll be better. He will be,” Martinez said Saturday, via Mark Zuckerman of Masn. “We talked a long time yesterday, and last night before we made any decisions. I know that he wants to be here. He expressed that very much. He’s going to miss his teammates. But without getting into any details, this was the right thing to do.”

Martinez had to handle the brunt of the fallout from the roster move. General manager Mike Rizzo, who made the call on Abrams, didn’t have a press conference over the weekend.

We won’t hear from him until his end-of-season session with the media later this week. Instead, it was Martinez who faced the media, handling a delicate situation as well as he could have.

“As I always say, it’s about taking care of the person first and not the player,” Martinez said. “And I’m going to do everything I can to help him. I love the kid. He’s a good kid. He’s going to be back.”

This Abrams situation will set the tone for the franchise heading into the offseason. If he is committed and bought in, things can move forward as planned. If not, we could see an unexpectedly major move involving him this winter.