Nationals avoided a huge mistake with James Wood and CJ Abrams last offseason

The Washington Nationals are currently in legitimate postseason contention this season, even though their historically terrible bullpen continues to hold the team back.

A huge reason why this team has a chance to make the postseason is the production of their three All-Stars in Foster Griffin, James Wood, and CJ Abrams. But there was a realistic scenario where they didn't have Wood or Abrams on the team.

According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, the Nationals were reportedly open to trading both Abrams and Wood this offseason. But they avoided such a mistake, keeping two cornerstones of the franchise in Washington D.C.

Nationals made James Wood and CJ Abrams available for trade this past offseason

"The Nationals traded prized starter MacKenzie Gore and let everybody know that CJ Abrams and James Wood were available during the winter, too, but now have a winning record and are hovering in the wild-card race," Nightengale writes.

The Nationals are 48-48 this season, and while their bullpen is a huge issue, they could very well justify buying a reliever at the deadline to improve their postseason odds this year, thanks in large part to Wood and Abrams.

This season, Abrams has a .276 batting average with 20 homers, 67 RBIs, and an .866 OPS in 92 games across 341 at-bats.

Wood, on the other hand, has a .278 batting average with 27 home runs, 63 RBIs, and a .974 OPS in 96 games across 367 at-bats.

MORE: Cardinals sign JJ Wetherholt to eight-year, $112.5 million contract extension

The Nationals All-Stars have been awesome this season, and if they had traded them this past offseason, it would've been a colossal mistake.

Fortunately, they avoided making such a huge mistake, as Wood and Abrams are now clearly players they need to build their team around for the foreseeable future.

The Nationals are building a good team, and Wood and Abrams are the centerpieces of this potential contender.

There's work to be done in the bullpen and the starting rotation, but overall, this Nationals team is in a good spot, thanks in large part to Wood and Abrams.

More MLB news:

• Cubs ‘realistic’ trade idea sends Seiya Suzuki to the Mariners for Luis Castillo
• Phillies trade idea lands Jung Hoo Lee and Robbie Ray from Giants for 2 prospects
• Yankees trade idea sends Carlos Lagrange to Athletics for utilityman Zack Gelof
• What happened to Shohei Ohtani? Why Dodgers star won't pitch tonight, or play in All-Star Game
• What did Blue Jays get for Tommy Nance? Twins send .855 OPS catcher prospect in trade