Nationals Should Have Signed James Wood to Long-Term Contract This Past Offseason

Should the Washington Nationals have signed James Wood to a contract extension this past winter?

May 17, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood (29) hits an RBI single during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

As the Washington Nationals continue to show signs of improvement in the win column this season, there have been multiple bright spots for the team even though there have been plenty of ups and downs.

But as the team continues to plug along, they have been a bit better than last campaign.

This winter, expectations went up a tick for the Nationals. There was some thought that the front office might look to make a splash or two to try and jumpstart the end of their rebuild.

That didn’t happen since most of their moves were focused on bringing in some veterans on short-term deals.

As shown by some of the inconsistencies from the young core so far, not spending significantly this past offseason was likely the right move.

However, one thing that they didn’t do this winter was lock up a budding star in the organization.

Who Should the Nationals Have Signed Long-Term?

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about not signing James Wood to a long-term contract and the risk that they now have with the star outfielder.

“The Nationals opted against giving James Wood a Ronald Acuña Jr. type of long-term contract. Now, he's on the fast track to becoming the next superstar who leaves D.C. right as he's hitting his prime.”

Washington is no stranger to developing star outfielders, but they have also seen them leave.

Bryce Harper and Juan Soto come to mind as two true superstar outfielders were two homegrown Nationals who ultimately became too expensive for the team to retain.

Harper signed a mega-deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, and after losing the slugger for nothing, Washington elected to trade Soto to the San Diego Padres for a haul of talent that is starting to make an impact in the Majors for them now.

When it comes to Wood, there is still a lot to prove to get to that level, but he is on the right track.

So far this season, he has slashed .285/.380/.538 with 12 home runs, 30 RBI and seven stolen bases. At just 22 years old, the slugger is emerging as one of the best young players in the game, and locking him up this past winter would have been wise.

Now, the price tag is going to continue to rise for Wood, and the Nationals are going to run the risk of seeing a similar fate happen with him that happened with Harper and Soto.