Washington Nationals news & notes: Talking CJ Abrams; Dylan Crews down the stretch + more…

While discussing the decision to demote C.J. Abrams to the minor leagues over the weekend, Davey Martinez emphasized it wasn’t a performance-related issue.

“This is an internal matter. I’m not going to go into details or talk about specifics,” Martinez told reporters in Chicago, “because we need to keep these people and everything private.”

“There are other guys I want to root for. I’m going to root for CJ. He’s a big part of the Nationals family and always will be. But at this point, it was the right thing for me to do. So, I spoke to CJ yesterday. We talked for a while. And … at this point, it was the right thing to do. And that’s all I really wanted to say about it.”

The director said his conversation with Abrams before the announcement was an emotional one.

“We cried together here, but as I always say, it’s about taking care of the person first, not the player,” Martinez added. “I’m going to do everything I can to help him. I like him and he’s a good kid and he’ll be back.”

The club participated and won Cubs After the Abrams news broke, the team won 5-1 at Wrigley on Saturday. San Diego Padres‘Top prospect Mackenzie Gore joined the Nationals in 2022 in the same trade that saw Abrams trade with Juan Soto (and Josh Bell).

Gore said after the outing:He continued the no-hitter until the seventh inning.) spoke about his reaction to the Abrams news.

“CJ’s family,” the southpaw said. Quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“We’ve played together my whole major league career. It’s a tough situation for me. I’m always on C.J.’s side in this situation. It’s interesting. It was a tough day to hear that. It was a tough day because I care about him. We’re close, he’s family. And it’s a tough day when you lose your best player.”

Martinez, who won just one of seven games on the Nationals’ final trip of 2024, said he thought his team handled an emotional day well, all things considered.

“I thought they did a really good job, they really did. We were united,” he said. “They went out there and it all started with McKenzie. McKenzie got off to a good start, pitched like he does and the guys were very calm.”

Crew Control/Crew-in/Clean-up Crew:

Rookie outfielder (2023 first-round pick, No. 2 overallDylan Crews broke a 0-for-19 streak last week with a single in his final at-bat of a four-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Through his first 25 major league games and 107 at-bats, Cruz finished his final game with Chicago batting average of .204/.262/.337 with four doubles, three home runs, eight walks and 22 strikeouts.

“He’s really battling a lot of stuff. I’m really proud of him,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters when asked about Cruz’s slump.

Photo: Dustin Satloff/Getty Images

“Because he’s going to give it his all, and he does, so we’ve just got to get him to slow down a little bit and stay behind the ball. We’ve talked a lot about staying in the middle of the field. He had some great hits in the middle of the field and just trying to focus on staying behind the ball as long as possible, but I think he’ll be successful.”

Martinez said Cruz, like many of the team’s young hitters, needs to stay focused, know what pitches he can use to do damage and not get chased.

“He’s another pitcher who chases the ball in the zone. He throws a lot of sliders. You’ve got to understand that with two strikes you’ve got to look at the ball a little higher.”

As he said previously during the series against the Cubs, Martinez is confident Cruz will understand what pitchers are doing against him and make the necessary adjustments.

“I like that kid a lot. That kid’s got a lot of drive. He steps up to the plate and has good at-bats. I think he’ll be OK. He just needs to make some adjustments.”