New Washington Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said he sees plenty of potential in the organization but needs to “be honest with where we’re at” as he tries to help turn around a franchise that has spent the past half-decade foundering.
“Obviously we don’t love that we won 66 games this past year. So there’s definitely work to do,” Toboni told ESPN. “But at the same time, I think it is a really exciting time within the franchise. What we’re going to concern ourselves with is just making really good decision after really good decision. And hopefully we look up here in some period of time and momentum is starting to roll and we’re really starting to build an organization that can be a perennial contender.”
The 35-year-old Toboni, whose hiring was made official Wednesday morning, is the youngest head of baseball operations in Major League Baseball. Following a 66-96 season — their fifth last-place finish in the National League East in six years since winning the World Series in 2019 — the Nationals replaced interim general manager Mike DeBartolo with Toboni. DeBartolo had taken over in July after the Nationals fired general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez.
First on Toboni’s list of priorities: finding a new manager. He said he has texted with interim manager Miguel Cairo and plans to talk with him in the next week as the Nationals “move quickly” to fill the job, with six managerial spots currently vacant and three more — Washington, Atlanta and Colorado — potentially needing replacements.
Toboni, who was the assistant general manager of the Red Sox, could also hire a general manager to help run the baseball operations department but said it was not a foregone conclusion.
“If we do decide to pursue it, I think we’ll do it with the thought in mind that we want someone that complements my skill and experience sets very well,” Toboni said. “So much of that is learning this group and understanding where we can use some help. So I’m open-minded on it, but we haven’t firmly made a decision one way or the other.”
Regardless of whether the Nationals pursue a general manager, Toboni plans to implement changes throughout the organization. In particular, he said, a new focus on scouting and player development — two areas he oversaw in Boston, where he ascended from intern to senior vice president — would be at the forefront.
“We need to create a really robust scouting and player development process and R&D process,” he said. “The name of the game is graduating high-end, cost-controlled talent to the major leagues. So the more of those guys we can have, the better. And I think if we build a foundation of talent like that, we’re going to have a really good shot. That’s where it all starts.”
The Nationals’ foundation at the moment is wobbly. While outfielder James Wood, shortstop CJ Abrams and left-hander MacKenzie Gore have shown flashes of excellence and outfielder Daylen Lile had a breakout second half, the Nationals’ farm system was 22nd of 30 in ESPN’s rankings, even after the addition of No. 1 overall pick Eli Willits. The Nationals are ineligible for the draft lottery next year because of rules penalizing teams for losing, making their earliest potential pick 11th overall.
Despite a gauntlet of a division — Philadelphia and New York are well-positioned talent-wise and financially, Atlanta is a perpetual contender, and Miami is on the upswing — Toboni said his concerns are less about the Nationals’ competitors and more about what they are capable of building.
“Just making sure we have the right people in the building that can not only drive the process that we want but then also create the culture that we want,” Toboni said. “Not necessarily just a culture around winning, but a culture where people value the right things and they’re dependable and they’re humble and they work their butts off. I think it took a bit of time to develop it in Boston, but we were patient and pretty disciplined with how we built out our staff, and I think it started to pay off in the long run.”
The success the Red Sox have had in drafting and player development generated interest in Toboni not just from the Nationals but in Boston, which would have named him general manager behind chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had he not left. In drafting outfielder Roman Anthony, shortstop Marcelo Mayer, catcher Kyle Teel, infielders Kristian Campbell and Chase Meidroth, and left-hander Payton Tolle, Toboni supercharged the Red Sox farm system and allowed them to bring young players to the big leagues while using Teel and Meidroth as part of a four-player package that landed them ace Garrett Crochet in a trade.
Leaving Boston wasn’t easy, particularly with the Red Sox on the ascent. At the same time, the allure of Washington — “a world-class city,” Toboni said — was obvious, and the Lerner family, which owns the Nationals, sealed his decision.
“Just the food, the culture, the diversity — the love of sports. It’s woven into the fabric of the area.” Toboni said. “My wife and I told ourselves if we were ever going to pursue something like this, we were going to hold a pretty high bar. When the Nationals first called, weren’t totally sure. Then I got around the ownership group, and we were just very much aligned on the vision and I found them to be very warm, humble, grounded people that are also competitive and love baseball. The more I interacted with them, the more I said I could really see myself working with these folks.”
