Even the thought of the Milwaukee Brewers landing James Wood should bring these fans immense joy. For Washington Nationals fans, not so much.
While this scenario isn’t super realistic, it’s fun to dive into. For some context, this mock trade comes from Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report, who pitched some “unpopular” trade ideas for the MLB offseason
It seems as if these aren’t meant to be the most realistic deals but rather some more interesting ones.
With that out of the way, let’s break down this mock trade and see if there’s any world where the Brewers would be able to land Wood from the Nationals.
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Nationals Send James Wood to Brewers in MLB Trade Pitch
To get a feel for what it might take for Milwaukee to land Wood, here’s what Rymer proposed: “Milwaukee Brewers get LF James Wood; Washington Nationals get SS Luis Peña (Brewers No. 2), SS Cooper Pratt (Brewers No. 3).”
Rymer explained, “Yet with Paul Toboni now leading their front office, the Nationals find themselves in the worst of spots: having to reboot a rebuild…Trading Wood now would be a means to turn one good player into a handful of great prospects…Wood is precisely the kind of power supply the Brewers need.”
If the Nationals are going to make this deal, they’ll need a massive haul. Two prospects won’t be enough, even though both of them are great.
To contextualize how good Wood is, though, let’s break down his 2025 season. Last year, Wood made the All-Star Game in just his 2nd MLB season.
At 22 years old, Wood had 3.7 WAR, 31 home runs, a .256 batting average, and a .350 OBP. On Baseball Savant, Wood had a Batting Run Value of 19, which was in the 84th percentile.
While Wood did have a 0 Baserunning Run Value (41st percentile) and a -6 Fielding Run Value (13th percentile), it’s clear that he’s a young star.
Does James Wood Fit with the Milwaukee Brewers?
While the Nationals should be looking to tear down, the Brewers need to start to push their chips in, and doing so by adding budget-friendly players is the best way for them to go about it.
Last year was a strong year for Milwaukee as they won 97 games and made it to the NLCS. But it was evident that Milwaukee didn’t have the talent to stack up against teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Wood is currently that elite-level player who could get them over that hump.
On top of all this, Jake Bauers is projected to be the Brewers’ starting right fielder in 2026. Last year, Bauers had 0.7 WAR, seven home runs, a .235 batting average, and a .353 OBP.
Going from Bauers to Wood would be a dream scenario for the Brewers.
Unfortunately, it just seems unlikely that they’ll be able to land him for anything less than a massive haul.
James Wood Contract
As a younger player, Wood has a very appealing contract that is going to make a trade tough. Wood is still in his pre-arbitration years and has the opportunity to become a free agent in 2031, which gives any team several years of control.