Nationals' Exec Paul Toboni Disputes James Wood Trade Rumors

The Washington Nationals are in the midst of the week long break to split up the 2026 regular season, while a trio of star players in the organization made the short trip north to Philadelphia as part of Tuesday's All Star game.

While Foster Griffin dazzled in his lone inning, the headlines for Washington Nationals came before that after a report from Bob Nightengale of USA Today noted the front office has been open about trade possibilities with two players: shortstop CJ Abrams and outfielder James Wood. The only problem is, while Abrams drew buzz as a potential mover ahead of 2026, Wood has never been viewed to be as a possible trade candidate -- and president of baseball operations Paul Toboni confirmed that on Wednesday.

Though no edit to the story was highlighted, USA Today updated their story to remove mention of Wood as a possible trade candidate thanks to Toboni directly reaching out to Nightengale to clear any rumors before it took a life of its own. Shortly after, during the 2026 MLB Draft, Toboni then walked down to the batting cages to tell Wood directly that the front office has yet to explore any possible trade interest regarding the local outfielder.

"Quite honestly in the middle of the draft, walked right down to the batting cages and grabbed [James Wood] and was like, 'I don't know if you saw this but it's not true,'" Toboni said on his weekly 106.7 radio appearance.

Toboni did admit that the front office has "had some conversations" surrounding Abrams, conversations that the Nationals have kept the star shortstop in the loop on. The San Francisco Giants reportedly made an aggressive offseason push to acquire the shortstop before Washington walked away from negotiations, leaving a door slightly open for a move ever since then. Yet ever since new management arrived to revive the organization, the message has been clear that the Nationals have opted to turn to transparency with their players when it comes to rumors and speculation. The same was true during the MacKenzie Gore offseason interest as Toboni noted during Winter Meetings the two sides were in contact surrounding all interest, giving a chance for management and players to establish trust.

"I think you guys know this, it's one of the things we pride ourselves on. Obviously we can't tell the player group everything but we want to be very conscious of what they read out there, them knowing whether it's the truth or not," Toboni said.

While many have questioned if the Nationals will flip the script and opt to extend one from the All Star trio in 2026 or beyond, Wood has been a centerpiece of the organization with the Rockville, Md. native ranked among the best hitters in baseball. His .984 OPS and 28 home runs are ranked inside the top five across MLB in addition to 64 RBIs in 97 games. After becoming the first back-to-back All Star since Juan Soto, talks of Wood heading elsewhere are unrealistic -- "and we've looped him in on that as well," Toboni said.

"We want to make this a place where players really want to be."

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