This afternoon, Paul Toboni held a virtual presser to talk about the Blake Butera hire, as well as other updates. He talked about what went into the Butera hire and why he trusted the person. Butera did not attend due to having his first child on Thursday. However, the biggest updates came in the front office.
The Nationals have hired a couple Assistant GM’s in recent weeks. Paul Toboni brought Devin Pearson and Justin Horowitz to DC. He has history with both in Boston. Both of them were also sitting scouting directors in their 30’s, so they are both rising names in the industry. Toboni also kept former interim GM Mike DeBartolo around.
However, we did not know what their formal roles would be before today. We do now though. In the presser, Toboni said that Pearson would oversee player development, Horowitz would be in charge of player acquisition and DeBartolo would help with baseball operations.
It is nice to see these executives’ roles laid out like this. With the Nats having Mike Rizzo run the show for so many years, this process is new for many Nats fans. We are learning as we go along here. This new regime seems like it will be more of a collaborative effort with the assistants playing bigger roles than they did in the past.
Another interesting note from the press conference is on the GM front. Paul Toboni said that the Nats will not be hiring a GM, at least not anytime soon. As more big name AGM hires were made, I began to suspect that there would not be a GM. This is one thing that Paul Toboni will not be changing from the Rizzo era.
Without a GM, these AGM’s are going to have a big role and have a lot of prominence. I am curious about the Pearson hire in particular now. The fact he is going to be heading up player development is very interesting. Pearson’s experience has come on the scouting side in Boston. Now he is going to be on a different side of things. Can his ability to spot talent translate into developing talent?
Only time will tell on that one, but I am excited about this new braintrust. For once, the Nationals have young, cutting edge minds in their front office. It is exciting to be part of something new for once. Over the past handful of years, the Nats have been behind the curve and stuck in the past. Now, they are aiming to be a forward thinking organization.
All of Paul Toboni’s hires have been with the goal of being young, fresh and innovative. Pearson, Horowitz and Butera are all in their 30’s and come from the new school. This is something the Nats have needed for a very long time. Now, we will finally get it. I am very excited to see how this new era in DC goes.