After a lot of firings, Paul Toboni is now starting to build the Nationals front office in his own vision. He made his first Assistant GM hiring, poaching a big name from his old club, the Red Sox. Paul Toboni is taking Red Sox scouting director Devin Pearson with him, where he will be a big part of the front office.
Like Toboni, Pearson is a young executive who is already making a big mark. At just 31 years old, he is even younger than Toboni. In a lot of ways, Pearson is Toboni’s protege, so bringing him to DC makes a lot of sense.
Toboni and Pearson have a ton of connections, beyond just working together in Boston. Both of them played baseball at Cal Berkeley. They both played around the same time, but missed each other by a year. The two have a long pre-existing relationship though.
Pearson joined the Red Sox organization in 2017, a couple years after Toboni. In Boston, the two worked side by side in the scouting department. When Toboni was the scouting director in Boston, Pearson was an assistant director for him. After Toboni got promoted to AGM, Pearson took his place and continued the great drafting in Boston.
Now Pearson is following Toboni again, this time to DC, where he will be an AGM. Given the duo’s history, this is unsurprising. However, it is interesting that Pearson is taking an assistant GM role, rather than being a GM under Toboni.
There were reports that the Nats were looking for a GM to work under Toboni, who is the President of Baseball Operations. However, at his opening press conference, Toboni was non-committal about the idea. Interestingly, Mike DeBartolo, who was the Nats Interim GM remains in the organization even after the mass firings, but does not have an official role yet.
Could DeBartolo be the GM under Toboni or will he go back to an AGM role, like he had before his stint as Interim GM. We will see, as there is still a lot to figure out in management, but Pearson is a great first hire.
If I had to guess, Pearson would probably be doing a lot of the stuff Toboni did in his AGM role in Boston. Now that Toboni is the head guy, he needs someone else to do the job that he filled in Boston. Clearly he trusts Pearson a lot. Devin Pearson is going to be a big part of this front office in DC.
This is a big time hire for the Nats, and I bet the Red Sox are frustrated by the brain drain in their front office. However, given Pearson’s relationship with Toboni, it would not be great form for the Red Sox to block him from a promotion, so they are not going to do that.
There is still a lot to be decided. No manager has come in yet and neither has a coaching staff. There are still plenty of open front office positions. However, Paul Toboni is bringing a brilliant young mind to DC and one he has a great relationship with. This is a statement first hire for Toboni.