Paul Toboni just wrapped up his opening press conference as President of Baseball Operations for the Washington Nationals. After watching the event, I had a few takeaways I wanted to write about. There was a lot to be excited about, as well as some ownership weirdness. If you want to watch the press conference, it is down here.
My first takeaway is that Paul Toboni is a highly impressive guy. It is easy to see how ownership was blown away when they interviewed him. Toboni said all the right things and made me believe in him and his process.
He opened by saying he wanted to create a “scouting and player development monster” that would make the Nationals the envy of not just the baseball world, but the entire sports world. Toboni is clearly a guy who is interested in sports as a whole, not just baseball. He mentioned his love for basketball a number of times and also quoted the great football coach Bill Walsh.
When Nats fans hear this guy talk, whether they watched the presser or will listen to it later, they will be blown away. There were a number of things he said that really stuck out. He mentioned multiple times that you win with people and that is something he has learned over the years. Toboni talked about how he loves the analytics side, he has learned to implement the human side of things as well.
While he is an eloquent guy, Toboni is also very clearly a competitor. He talked about how he wants there to be a culture where there are winners and losers. Toboni also talked about bringing accountability as well. He is a young, personable guy, but you can also see the cutthroat side to him as well. I love that he has that combination.
One answer I found interesting is when he talked about coaching. He mentioned that there are two sides of coaching that are needed. There is a technical side of coaching, as well as something he called the art of coaching. For Toboni, both are needed. If you don’t have that art of coaching, the sound technical advice you give will not be taken to heart. However, he also emphasized that these coaches need to have the most up to date, analytical advice to give as well.
Overall, there is not much bad I can say about Toboni. He seems like a real winner, as well as a young family man who really cares about his community. This is a guy you can win with if the right pieces are put around him.
Putting the right pieces around him is where I get nervous though. The ownership side of this press conference was pretty awkward. Mark Lerner, Ed Cohen and Robert Tannenbaum were all on stage, but only Lerner talked. It seemed like Lerner wanted one of the other guys to talk at one point, but then Toboni stepped in.
When Toboni and Lerner were asked about any specific assurances, both skated around the question. Toboni talked about how there is a reason he was on the stage and how he could have stayed in Boston, but did not dive into any specifics. Lerner dodged the question much less artfully, talking about how he wanted to get the team back to where it was but did not go into specifics.
Lerner sounded pretty defensive throughout the press conference. Some of that is understandable, there has been a target on his back and he is feeling the heat. However, it was a bit odd at times. The disparity between Toboni’s charisma and his demeanor did not help that look either.
However, I find it hard to believe that Toboni took the job without any assurances. He was the favorite to be the GM under Craig Breslow in Boston and is viewed as one of the best up and coming minds in baseball. This is a guy who had some options. It is very possible that they just did not want to dive into specifics.
On the whole, I was impressed with the event despite the ownership weirdness. It looks like they have hired a real sharp and charismatic guy. Toboni has the potential to become one of baseball’s elite executives, at least based on how he presents himself. He is young, hungry and eager to win. The question now is whether ownership will back Paul Toboni properly. If they do, I think he can build a winner in DC sooner rather than later.