The Nationals are finalizing a deal with Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni as the new head of their baseball operations department, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Toboni will be Washington’s president of baseball operations, reports Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic, and will hire a general manager to be his second-in-command.
The Nats’ front office had been run by Mike Rizzo for many years. He first became the general manager in 2009 and later got a title bump to president of baseball operations. The club had a lot of success during his tenure, as they were perennial contenders in the previous decade and won the 2019 World Series.
But since winning that title, they entered a protracted rebuild that they have struggled to get out of. The current campaign will be their sixth straight with a losing record. Rizzo was fired in July, along with manager Dave Martinez, as the club looked to shake things up. Assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo was made the interim general manager at that point.
Toboni is only 35 years old and appears to be a rising star in the baseball world. The Sox fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom in 2023 and Toboni generated some interest for that job, even though he would have been only 33 years old at that time, when he was Boston’s vice-president of amateur scouting and player development.
The Sox eventually hired Craig Breslow to replace Bloom. Shortly thereafter, Toboni was promoted to assistant general manager, going into the 2024 campaign. In recent weeks, it has been reported that Breslow plans to hire/promote a general manager to work under him, with Toboni a strong candidate for that position.
But Toboni was also one of many candidates to run the Washington front office. Other reported candidates included Eddie Romero, another Boston assistant general manager, as well as Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins, Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman, Dodgers senior vice president Josh Byrnes, Royals assistant general manager Scott Sharp and D-Backs AGM Amiel Sawdaye. Instead of settling for the #2 job in Boston, Toboni gets the #1 spot in Washington.
As Passan points out, Toboni has been running Boston’s draft in recent years as the club has stockpiled an impressive collection of young talent. That includes players who have already risen to the major league ranks, with Passan listing Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and those who were included in the Garrett Crochet trade. Boston sent Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman González to the White Sox in that swap.
That is presumably of interest to the Nationals, who have struggled to develop their own draftees and signees in recent years. There is some young talent on the current big league roster but the top guys all came over in the 2023 deal sending Juan Soto to the Padres. The Nats were able to get CJ Abrams, James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana in that pact. Hassell hasn’t yet provided anything in the big leagues but Abrams, Wood and Gore have all had success. Susana hasn’t yet reached Triple-A and just underwent lat surgery but he is considered one of the top pitching prospects in the league.
By contrast, a lot of the players that the Nats drafted or signed have not panned out as expected. Over the past decade, they have used first-round picks on Carter Kieboom, Dane Dunning, Seth Romero, Mason Denaburg, Jackson Rutledge, Cade Cavalli, Brady House, Elijah Green, Dylan Crews, Seaver King and Eli Willits. Some of those players are still young and with the Nats but the club probably doesn’t feel great about that group overall.
Ideally, Toboni can help the Nats have better results going forward. Even if he can do that, it probably won’t happen overnight. It was recently reported that the franchise is dealing with some concerning systemic issues. The club has seen a few notable staff departures recently. Per Andrew Golden of The Washington Post, scouting director Danny Haas jumped ship to the Orioles a few weeks ago. Just this week, TalkNats reported that senior director of amateur scouting Brad Ciolek is leaving to join the Tigers.
Toboni’s first priority will probably to focus on behind-the-scenes details like that, before he can even turn his attention to the roster. He will also have to conduct a search for a new manager to replace Martinez, unless he wants to just keep interim skipper Miguel Cairo around for next year.
There will surely be more clarity on the details in the coming weeks. It’s unclear what’s next for DeBartolo, who was a candidate for this job but was passed over. It’s also possible this news alters the next steps for the Red Sox, who were presumably hoping to retain Toboni.
For the Nats, it’s clear that 2025 is a pivot point for them. It will be impossible to evaluate the transition for years to come but they are hoping it’s a move away from their dreary present and towards a brighter future.
Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images