Paul Toboni

It's, I think it's a very, very, very, very small minority of people that say, "Fire Butera," but the fact that people are out there saying that they should actually move on from him is insane to me.

Like, Butera, in my opinion, this is one of the best moves that the Nationals have made outside of hiring Paul Toboni.

I think Paul Toboni, it all starts at the top there, but then that second hire of getting your manager right is a massive, massive deal.

And also, I just think that when Davey Martinez was here, again, I love Davey Martinez, brought a World Series here.

He was an awesome manager when he had the tools to work with.

Reminder-

I saw Paul Toboni in the bathroom.

Oh, you did?

Nice.

It's all good

... sportsschunkiesradio.

All right, Paul Toboni's with us.

All right.

We're feeling pretty good heading into next year after this whole CBA lockout situation is finally over.

Um, but yeah, no, it was just, it was just a great season in, in, in Blake Butera and Paul Toboni's first go around.

I'm sure that they're even surprised at how ahead of schedule they, they are.

Um, but yeah, no, there's, there's still improvement to be made, but, uh, we're feeling pretty good heading into next year.

An increased payroll next year.

I'm going to get handsome shamed by Paul Toboni today.

Well, I guess I

don't know.

And we are going to have their owner, Ted Leonsis, on the show today at 925.

Big lineup of guests.

Paul Toboni kind of season wrap-up, off-season preview interview.

That's coming up at 825.

It's nothing to do really with the big scheme of things as far as baseball goes.

The biggest question remains is what will the ownership do and how will they be able to spend money? You bring in Paul Toboni this off season to answer, in my opinion, your biggest question.

The biggest question this offseason was, how can the Washington Nationals start developing talent again? Well, before this season entering, it depends which site you checked, but Baseball America, I believe, had them as the 16th ranked farm system heading into 2026.

Fast forward a year, and they are now a top 10 payroll.

Let that sink in.

The Nats on October 1st, 2025, announced the hiring of Paul Toboni as president of baseball operations.

The Nats on October 31st, 2025, Halloween 2025, announced the hiring of Blake Butera as manager.

And the Nats on December 18th, 2025, announced the hiring of Anirudh Kalambi as general manager, a salute to all three guys for the work that they have done and a salute to the entire Nats organization for its 2026 season.

House at the Major League level in the 2026 regular season, OPS of just 710.

But yeah, a tremendous 2026 regular season for the Nats offensively.

Paul Toboni did a season-ending press conference on Friday afternoon.

We joined the presser, had this exchange.

We on Friday afternoon had a press conference in honor of the contract extension for starting pitcher Cade Cavalli.

We later on Friday afternoon had President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni doing an end-of-season session with reporters.

And we on Friday evening had a 7-6 Nats win over the New York Mets at Nationals Park.

In game one of a three-game series, a terrific crowd at Nationals Park for this game.

And then Josiah Gray did as he did.

You know, we had on Friday afternoon a Cade Cavalli press conference.

We later on Friday, as mentioned, had Paul Toboni speaking with you guys.

But one of the more interesting things that I thought was said on Friday afternoon was manager Blake Butera during his pregame session with you guys flat out saying that the Nats would be in the playoffs if the bullpen had been just league average.

And also, something that I think this organization will be able to do well down the line, you'll be able to see this group develop other pitches.

Connolly Early, who's now a Washington National, who will be making his Nationals debut this weekend, at least he's scheduled to at this point, Paul Toboni mentioned him a couple of different times about how they added pitches to his arsenal.

And it's something that they developed within the Boston Red Sox organization.

And obviously, Connelly Early was a top prospect for the team entering this season.

Like, this is a very exciting time for the Red Wings because...

Not only are they affiliated with the Nationals, but they've got a ton of young talent on that roster.

And with Matt LaCroix, by the way, just an awesome figure in this organization that has carried over from Mike Rizzo now to Paul Toboni.

Just an awesome guy, awesome person to talk to.