Offseason Position Discussion : 2B

After a strong finish to 2025 left him with near average stats at the plate, the Nats wanted to find a place to put slick fielding Nasim Nunez.  As CJ was happy at short, the Nats settled at 2nd and Nasim flashed that glove, showing himself to be one of the best fielders at the position.  To boot, he was strong on the basepaths stealing 49 bases for the year. However sometimes it felt like he flashed his glove at the plate as well instead of a bat. Nasim, who never really hit in the minors, crashed and put up an embarrassing .209 / .291 / .244 line with an amazingly low 6 doubles in nearly 500 trips to the plate.   He'd move to short when the Nats tried Abrams at 2B but that line won't play anywhere. 

Presumed Plan : 

If Abrams is around playing SS, Nunez is fighting with the recently acquired Nate Furman for 2B playing time to keep the space warm for Nats prospects King and/or Willits and/or Fitz-Gerald.  If Abrams is gone, Nunez is playing SS while Furman plays 2B to keep the spaces warm for ditto.

Reasoning behind Presumed Plan : 

Nunez does not hit like a major leaguer and that glove isn't good enough to make up for it. Ideally you bring up someone then but outside the prospects mentioned above there really isn't a fill-in worth kicking Nunez out for. So they traded for it.  The acquisition of Furman, a decent AAA player with a great eye, tells us the Nats are not resigned to just Nunez playing next season.  They don't want SS/2B to be an offensive hole of the magnitude it was in 2026.  That's just not how major league teams roll. 

My Take :  

The kid can't hit.  All glove has almost never been a thing in baseball and while Nunez is a good glove, hell, he's a great glove, he is NOT a transformative one that can carry an A ball bat to a regular major league starting role. So yeah, you gotta say tough luck kid, and either sit him on the bench as a late inning glove man or send him back to AAA to work on his hitting (or really you could cut him). 

With the Nats prospects heavily representing middle infield Nunez is expendable but I could see how the Nats would think he's not worth expending now as anyone you put there has an expiration date of 2028. But I'm heartened to see the pick-up of Furman, even if he proves to be no better, as a sign that they aren't just going to stick Nunez out there for another 150 games and leave an open hole in the lineup. Right now I'd probably start Furman at 2B over Nunez but if they decide in Spring that Nunez looks better that's fine.  Furman is here only to be the other possible choice, not because he's a slam dunk. 

 The middle infield for the Nats is in a limbo as they decide what to do with Abrams and which of their kids pop-up and when. In the meantime that leaves a space for Nasim, but only in the meantime. The Nats org seems to understand that and that makes me happy to see.