NEW YORK (AP) — All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams is moving to second base for the Washington Nationals, vacating the only position he's played during his five seasons with the club.
Manager Blake Butera said Friday that Abrams has begun working out at second. He said the transition will be more “multiday than multiweek” and that Abrams will swap spots with second baseman Nasim Nuñez.
“Just thought this was the best thing for our team going forward,” Butera said. “We think with those two up the middle and Nasim playing more shortstop gives us the best chance.”
Butera said Abrams was amenable to the move while noting that shortstops take pride in playing the position — something Abrams also acknowledged.
“That’s just where I’ve been playing my whole life,” said Abrams, who led off and played shortstop Friday night against the New York Mets. “I believe I can be a great shortstop.”
Abrams, an NL All-Star starter, is having a career year offensively, with 28 homers, a major league-best 91 RBIs, a .284 average and an .898 OPS.
Abrams also leads NL shortstops with 19 errors, just three shy of his career high from 2023 and 2025. His .958 fielding percentage would also be a career worst.
“He said that a few times — like, look, the competitor in me wants to say I can do this at shortstop but also understand we have to do what’s best for the team and the organization going forward,” Butera said.
Nuñez has nine errors and a .965 fielding percentage at second base. He leads the majors in range factor at the position.
The Nationals also used first-round picks on shortstops Seaver King and Eli Willits in 2024 and 2025. Willits, selected first overall, is Washington’s no. 1 prospect, per MLB.com, while King ranks fourth.
“We’re thinking about all those things,” Butera said. “But ultimately, right now, what we’re trying to do is do what’s best for this team and this organization to win as many games as possible the rest of the year and also set ourselves up for next year.”
Abrams hasn’t played second base since his rookie season in 2022, when he made 13 appearances at the position for the San Diego Padres.
“It’s not too big of a change,” he said.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Cincinnati Reds' Matt McLain (9) is out at second base as Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams, top, throws to first base to put out Reds' TJ Friedl for a double play during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Bill DeLind thought the Picasso print that was stolen from his Milwaukee gallery in 2018 was gone forever. But then police called last week and asked him to look an artwork that a local landlord found while cleaning out a vacant apartment.
DeLind immediately recognized the stolen “Torero” print, one of 30 known to exist signed by Picasso.
“I was overwhelmed,” DeLind said Friday. “I was at a loss for words. It was an overwhelming moment for me.”
The sticker from his DeLind Fine Art Appraisals was still on the back of the framed print, just as it had been placed there in 2018.
“It was indeed mine,” DeLind said. “It came back full circle.”
Milwaukee landlord Tim Dertz told WISN-TV that he found the print while cleaning out an apartment of someone who had been evicted.
“It was kind of in a weird spot hanging on a wall,” Tim Dertz told the station. “It looked like it had been there for a long, long time because it had tons of dust across the top of it.”
Dertz said he showed it to an antique dealer friend who recognized it as a Picasso and said it appeared to be the one DeLind reported stolen in 2018. Dertz handed it over to police, who then contacted DeLind.
“When they called me, I was in disbelief,” DeLind said.
The Milwaukee Police Department said in an email Friday that the statute of limitations for theft and property crimes is generally six years but the case remains under investigation. Caroline Clancy, a spokesperson for the FBI in Milwaukee, declined to comment.
The year it was stolen the piece was appraised at between $35,000 and $50,000, DeLind said. He guessed that the value hasn't changed much since then, but now given its story it may be worth closer to $50,000.
The artwork remains in possession of Milwaukee police while the client who had commissioned it for sale with his art gallery works it out with his insurance company, DeLind said.
DeLind said his former business partner, who died in February, was distraught over the theft in 2018 and called police every year on the anniversary of the crime asking that they publicize it again in the hope the Picasso could be found.
“He would have been over the moon about this,” DeLind said. “It was special to him.”
Art dealer Bill DeLind points to where a Pablo Picasso sketch was hanging when it stolen from his shop DeLind Fine Art Appraisals in 2018 in Milwaukee, on Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. The sketch was recently found in town. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)
Printouts of a photo of the Pablo Picasso etching, "Torero" are displayed on a table in DeLind Fine Art Appraisals in Milwaukee on Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)
Art dealer Bill DeLind shows a picture of a Pablo Picasso sketch (upper left) stolen from his shop DeLind Fine Art Appraisals in 2018 in Milwaukee on Aug. 14, 2026. The sketch was recently found in town. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)
