As Jeff Passan had reported, the Boston Red Sox Assistant GM and Senior Vice President of Operations, Paul Toboni, has been hired by the Washington Nationals as the head of operations.
Many don't know who Toboni is, and that is baffling to see. Toboni is, for one, one of the most brilliant baseball minds in that front office. Many believe he's even better than the Chief of Baseball Operations himself, Craig Breslow. But that sounds like a bold claim to make, right? Not really, and here's why.
What Paul Toboni Has Done in Boston
Toboni started here in Boston as a baseball operations intern in 2015, ten years ago. Since then, he rose from an area scout to director of amateur scouting up until 2022, and was promoted to Vice President in 2023, then to SVP in November of 2023. He was also named as the Assistant GM at this time when Breslow was hired.
All of this in ten years is astounding, and he's highly regarded in that front office, being one of the key decision-makers there. Many believed that Chaim Bloom was the one who developed the farm system, including me.
But after looking into Toboni and what he's done with this organization, it was he who discovered these major talents that the Red Sox know and love today. He was the one who was responsible for drafting players in the drafts. He selected Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, and many others. Those others include the ones in the Garrett Crochet trade this past winter, with Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, and Chase Meidroth.
Toboni's role with the Washington Nationals isn't specified just yet, but presumably, he will be the head of operations and, as the team czar. He will have to prove himself rather quickly and make a statement, especially against teams like the Mets and the Phillies, who love to spend their money on players.
However, Toboni was supposed to be the top candidate for another promotion this year, this time, for the General Manager role under Craig Breslow. It's obvious that if another team offers you a bigger and better opportunity, you need to take it. That has always been the case.
Similar GMs of His Caliber
Andrew Friedman left Tampa Bay for the Los Angeles Dodgers and had a similar path leading up to his success. He was the Director of Scouting, then promoted to Executive Vice President of Operations, and rebuilt the Rays from 2005 to 2014. Friedman was responsible for drafting players like Evan Longoria, Alex Cobb, David Price, and Matt Moore.
Half of those men played in the 2008 Rays team that made it to the World Series, and were in playoff contention for the next five years after that. He then joined the Dodgers as the President of Operations with the biggest deal in baseball front office history, $35 million for five years. Many called Friedman a 'brilliant mind' and he's proved as such, winning two World Series with the Dodgers in his 11 years with the team, and making the playoffs every single year since his hiring.
David Stearns is another one, and he was bounced around for a few years before he got his big break. He started in Cleveland in 2011 and was co-director of baseball ops with Derek Falvey (who is the president of ops nowadays for the Minnesota Twins). Stearns was hired by the Houston Astros in 2012 as their assistant general manager under Jeff Luhnow, and they both built a dynasty that is still going on to this day.
In 2015, Stearns was hired by the Brewers as their GM, succeeding the retiring Doug Melvin, and was one of the youngest GMs in history at the time of his hire. He fired seven front office executives, cleaned house, hired Matt Arnold as his assistant GM, and made magic. He helped build the Brewers into a very successful team, acquiring the likes of Christian Yelich, Yasmani Grandal, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, and many more in his eight years with the team.
Afterwards, he left for a new role as the President of Baseball Operations of the New York Mets. Almost right away, in the 2024 season, the Mets had one of the most miraculous postseason runs in the team's recent memory.
This is a good company that Paul Toboni is with right now, and his potential to be one of the best front office execs in history is in the mix. Am I exaggerating? Maybe, but also, probably not. That's how well he's talked about by other officials in the front office.