Just as James Wood hit his 30th home run of the season, an even bigger bombshell has come. Jeff Passan has reported that the Nationals are finalizing a deal to hire Paul Toboni of the Red Sox to be the team’s new President of Baseball Operations.
At just 35 years old, Toboni brings a fresh set of eyes to the Washington Nationals organization. Despite his tender age, Toboni has been working for the Red Sox for a decade now.
In that time, Toboni rose from an intern to a Senior Vice President for one of the most successful organizations in baseball. The Red Sox have a history of producing great GM talent over the years. From Theo Epstein to Jed Hoyer, the Red Sox have been a breeding ground for bright baseball minds.
The Nats seem to think that Toboni is next in line. The 35 year old has big shoes to fill. Mike Rizzo ran this team for 15 years and won a World Series. Now, it will be Toboni’s turn to try to bring winning baseball to DC.
According to Passan, Toboni is very highly regarded in the industry and is seen as an up and coming mind. After the end of the Mike Rizzo era, it is refreshing to see the Nats go in a younger direction. While the Rizzo era reached incredible heights, things stagnated at the end.
Toboni has a big task in front of him. He will have to modernize the organization while dealing with a difficult ownership group. However, he clearly backs himself to do that. While it is going to be a tough job, there are some things to build around with the Nats.
The young outfield of James Wood, Dylan Crews and Daylen Lile is a very good foundation to build on. Toboni will have to decide on the futures of players like CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore.
Toboni has done a great job building up the Red Sox young core and he has the chance to do the same here in DC. This is an exciting day for Nationals fans. The team has decided that it is time to fully commit to a new direction and that is very exciting.
As more details come out, Federal Baseball will keep you guys updated. But it looks like the Washington Nationals have found the man to replace Mike Rizzo.
