LAS VEGAS — Phone at his ear and responsibilities aplenty, Paul Toboni walked down the hallway of a five-star Las Vegas hotel last week with the rigmarole of MLB’s general manager’s meetings feeling mostly familiar.
The protocols of these events had not changed: Wear a polo, walk between league meetings and talk shop with agents and executives. Even at 35, the Nationals’ new president of baseball operations is well-connected inside the game and well-versed in the discussions that take place at these gatherings. And yet.
At this time last year, his Boston Red Sox were trying to get Garrett Crochet and Alex Bregman in the door. At the same time this year, he is flying from Boston to Washington each week, finding a new home, helping his four kids adjust to the move and — for about 12 hours every day — hiring for an unprecedented number of openings in the organization.
“That’s not to say you haven’t done anything [outside of hiring],” Toboni said. “But when you’re staffing all day, you’re like ‘Wait, I haven’t even gotten to the roster or other things.’ But I think it’s that important. Our staff is going to play a huge role in dictating our success moving forward.”
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Multiple people familiar with the organization’s plans suggested the team needed to hire around 40 positions on the baseball side this offseason. While many key hires have been finalized, the process is far from done. The next significant step will be rounding out the big league coaching staff.
So far, that staff includes Manager Blake Butera, bench coach Michael Johns, pitching coach Simon Mathews and catching coordinator Bobby Wilson. According to a person familiar with the team’s plans, former assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson is among the candidates who will interview for the top hitting coach job, with those conversations expected to take place this week.
Last year, the Nationals also had a pitching strategist, assistant hitting coach, first base coach and third base coach on the staff. So far, those roles have not officially been filled. It is not clear if the team will have any new positions on the big league staff beyond that.
While there is no target date to finalize the staff — and, in seeking permission to interview certain employees, the Nationals’ timeline is at the liberty of other teams — they hope to get it done as soon as possible.
“The sooner we can get folks in the building, the sooner that they can get to work and start working with the players and building all the relationships,” Toboni said.
As for last year’s staff: Miguel Cairo, who served as Washington’s interim manager after Dave Martinez’s exit in July, is expected to become the Baltimore Orioles’ infield coach. Darnell Coles accepted a job to become the Atlanta Braves’ assistant hitting coach on Walt Weiss’s staff after four seasons as the Nationals’ hitting coach.
When asked about plans for the front office, Toboni said he expected sweeping additions.
“When we look up a year from now, I think everyone will see that we’re going to grow significantly,” Toboni said. “That’s obviously intentional, and it’s a pretty clean path in my opinion, to try and get better relatively quickly.”
Toboni expects the Nationals to grow across multiple departments, with the player development department the most likely sector to see an expansion. That means, among other things, more coaches, more support staff and possibly, over the course of the season, new technology. Toboni added that Washington will add multiple positions that did not previously exist in the organization. Those specifics, though, are still in the works.
Staffing aside, Toboni and his staff have several important roster deadlines coming up.
The deadline for the Nationals to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft is 6 p.m. Tuesday. Players they could possibly protect include starting pitchers Jake Bennett, Tyler Stuart and Riley Cornelio, outfielder Christian Franklin and infielder Cayden Wallace.
The 40-man roster is now at 34 players after some early shuffling. Gone are infielder Trey Lipscomb, catcher C.J. Stubbs and pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara (waived, remain in the organization); relievers Mason Thompson and Eduardo Salazar and catcher Jorge Alfaro (waived, elected free agency); relievers Zach Brzykcy and Ryan Loutos (waived, claimed by the Miami Marlins and Seattle Mariners, respectively) and first baseman Josh Bell and third baseman Paul DeJong (elected free agency).
After that is the non-tender deadline, which is Friday evening. Washington will have to decide whether to tender a contract to unsigned players. Their arbitration-eligible players are pitchers MacKenzie Gore, Josiah Gray, Cade Cavalli, Jake Irvin, as well as shortstop CJ Abrams, catcher Riley Adams and second baseman Luis García Jr. Of that group, Irvin, Adams and García will probably be the toughest decisions for Washington’s front office.
Washington also has to make a significant number of minor league signings. According to Baseball America, the Nationals had 34 minor leaguers elect free agency, which is the most of any team. On Saturday, they agreed to a minor league deal (with an invite to big league spring training camp) with reliever Eddy Yean. The 24-year-old had a 3.06 ERA at the Class AAA level last season and, as a hard-throwing right-hander, is someone Washington hopes has untapped swing-and-miss potential in his profile.
As far as the big league roster is concerned, the Nationals are keeping their options open. They expect to be in the market for starters and relievers and will keep an eye on available first basemen and catchers.
In the immediate, though, Toboni is concerned with rekindling old connections and forming some new. At the GM meetings, he was surrounded by peers who were not surprised to see him in a new role; his old boss Craig Breslow, who “selfishly” hoped he would keep Toboni for another year or two, and Orioles President of Baseball Operations Mike Elias, who said he was “very aware of and impressed with what he did with Boston in the draft,” and thought Washington made a “great hire.”
Perhaps that is why this all felt quite familiar.
Andrew Golden contributed to this report.
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