Paul Toboni named Washington Nationals President of Baseball Operations – Press Conference
And good morning and welcome inside Studio 21 for a very special announcement. My name is Lauren Shahadi and we are taking you out to our nation’s capital in just a few moments. The Washington Nationals have officially found their guy naming Paul Taboni their president of baseball operations. They bring Tiboni in from the Boston Red Sox where he was a senior vice president, assistant general manager where he oversaw player development at the major and the minor league levels. This is his resume. joined the Red Sox as an intern. Get that. Back in 2015, wow, what a leap. Over a decade. He moved into a scouting role and now the president of baseball operations for the Washington Nationals. The Nationals, you remember, parted ways with Mike Rizzo back in July. He had a 17-year tenure with the organization. Washington looking for their first winning season since winning the World Series back in 2019. They haven’t been able to recapture that magic. Tiboni talked about the city being a wonderful place to raise children as a driving force behind taking the job. He and his wife Danielle have four children. The first item on his to-do list will be selecting a new manager for his ball club, the Nationals fire, Davy Martinez in July and had Miguel Cairo in as an interim role for the rest of the season. He is 35 years old. He is rising rapidly and rose through the Red Sox organization and system. He held six different positions over 10 plus years and he started as a baseball ops intern. Let’s listen in live to the new president of baseball operations for the Washington Nationals on this very exciting day. I’d like to welcome everyone who’s here with us at Nationals Park as well as those watching on nationals.com Massen and MLB Network. Earlier this morning, the Washington Nationals officially announced that Paul Taboni has been named the club’s president of baseball operations. Paul, welcome to Washington DC. It’s a privilege to have you, your wife Danielle, your four boys who already have their nationals jerseys and a chain as well already decked out. I love it. And other members of your family here today. Also here with us today on the deis are Washington Nationals principal owners Mark Learner, Ed Cohen, and Bob Tannenbomb. Welcome gentlemen. We’re pleased to be joined as well by other members of the Learner Cohen and Tannon families as well as other Washington Nationals founding partners. I’d like to extend a special welcome to Angie Gates, president and chief executive officer of Events DC. Thank you so much for joining us today, Angie. And now it’s my pleasure to turn things over to Washington Nationals managing principal owner, Mark Learner. Mark, thank you, Dan. Good morning, everyone. Exciting day. Uh my family and I are thrilled to officially introduce Paul as our president of baseball operations. He is truly impressive. You’ll find that out for yourselves pretty soon. and we’re excited about the fresh voice he brings to our organization. We’re all energized and optimistic about where the team is headed. When we set out to find a new leader for our baseball operations, our goal was to find someone who could build a world-class department that they that will attract and develop some of the talent in the sport. With Paul, we found not only that, but someone who leads through communication and collaboration and who has the ability to connect with our staff and the players on our roster. Paul already has the respect of his colleagues and peers across baseball. That isn’t surprising given how he modernized the draft process in just a few short years in Boston and played a crucial role in turning that franchise around. All of us here are so excited to work with Paul and support the vision he has for the Nets. We’re confident that he’s the person we need to build a winning culture here in DC. Paul, we’re so thrilled to welcome you and your family into our family. Okay, who’s next? Thank you, Mark. And Paul’s next. Paul, at this time, I’ll open it up to you. Thank you. Uh, good morning everyone. I’d like to start out with a few thank yous. Uh, first of all, thank you to the learner, uh, Cohen and Tannon Bomb families. Uh, thank you for entrusting me with overseeing this baseball operation. Uh, it’s a a responsibility that I do not take lightly and um, you know, it’s my goal to make you all proud of of what we build here. Um, I’d like to thank the Boston Red Sox organization. Uh, specifically, I’d like to thank uh, John, uh, Tom, Mike, Sam, uh, Brez. Thank you for allowing me to pursue this opportunity. Um, but also thank you for all your support over the last 10 plus years. Um, I’d like to thank all the heads of baseball operations I’ve worked under, uh, Ben Sharington, Dave Dumbousski, uh, Heim Bloom, and Brian O’Halerin, and Craig Brelo. Um, I’ve learned a lot from all of their leadership styles, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work for all of them. Uh, and I’d like to also thank everyone else in the Red Sox organization. You know, those that I worked really closely with. Um, but also, you know, the the coaches, the scouts, the analysts, uh, the parking lot attendants. I’m going to miss the custodians. I’m going to miss. Uh, I’m going to miss seeing all of them every day. So, um, thank you to all of you as well. I’d like to thank my family who’s here today, uh, my folks and my siblings. Um, you know, I like to say I hit the lottery at birth. Um, I had, you know, no control over the circumstances that I was born into, but they have all struck a great balance of loving me, but challenging me. And, uh, I’m forever in debt to all of you. Uh, to my wife Danielle and our four boys, uh, JC, Patrick, Sunny, and, and Mickey. Uh, all of you make life so fun. It can be crazy at times, but, uh, I’m lucky to have all of you in my life. So, uh, thank you to to everyone. Uh I’m stepping into this role with a clear vision and that vision is to be the highest performing organization in all of sports. Uh I want to help build something that becomes the envy of all of sports, right? Where we get, you know, x amount of of months and years down the line and people are looking at this organization like shoot I want to I want to be part of that organization. Um we have a lot of work to do. Uh that’s okay. We’re going to embrace it and uh while it’s going to be challenging, uh it’s going to be really rewarding uh when we get to where we uh where we want to go. Uh to me, you know, one of the simplest ways of doing that is creating a scouting and player development monster, right? And to do that in the current game that means uh integrating analytics and R&D um really tightly within um those spaces where we are uh ultimately uh graduating young talented players to the major leagues. Okay. Um but more so than that we can talk about you know driving great process or building great systems uh creating a winning culture right uh in my mind you do that with people and uh I’ve said it uh time and time again but you win with people right and if we are going to achieve that we want people that carry themselves with joy um that through the ups and the downs they they uh maintain a really optimistic attitude right uh folks that are humble and as as Greg Papovich likes to say have gotten over themselves. Um, we want folks of high integrity, right? And that doesn’t mean just, you know, not stealing or not cheating or not lying. Uh, that means folks that are dependable, um, that are accountable. Um, folks that when they say they’re going to do something, they do it, right? And folks that are going to work, right? Those those are all traits that we uh very much are going to hold sacred. And then last but not least, uh, we want folks that are competitive, right? I talk about uh you know making the scoreboard visible and thriving in that environment. Um we want there to be winners and losers, right? And like I said, we want to thrive in that environment, right? So um I’m a big hoops fan and uh I can’t I couldn’t imagine playing a game of one-on-one and not keeping score, right? So that’s going to be central to who we are as well. Uh I think if we build a group in baseball operations that carry uh those attributes uh you know it’s like the great uh Bill Walsh says right the score will take care of itself. And so that’s the mindset we’re going to keep every day. Uh we’re going to uh stack good decisions on top of each other day after day after day and let the score take care of itself. Uh so in closing, you know, once again, thank you to the Learner Cohen and Tanibon families. Um thank you so much for entrusting me. uh with this responsibility and I can’t wait to get going. [Applause] Thank you, Paul. At this point, we will take questions from the media. We have Daniel and Jacob with microphones around the room. Um please raise your hand, introduce yourself to uh Paul, and we’ll get going. Hi Paul, Mark Zuckermanman with Mass. Congrats. Um, I’m sure as you went through the interview process, there’s a lot of selling of yourself to them. I’m curious what you tried to outline in that regard, but I’m also curious what they told you, how they sold themselves to you that made you believe this was the place you wanted to be. Yeah. So, to the first part of your question, I think more than anything, I just wanted to be myself, right? And if I was myself and it was something that they liked, great. Uh, and if they didn’t like it, also fine, right? I was uh very happy in the in the Boston Red Sox organization. Um, you know, to the second part of your question, uh, listen, when I first took, uh, started the process of interviewing, um, I didn’t know if this was the place I wanted to be. I loved the city. My wife loved the city. Our family loved the city. Um, knew that it was a great franchise, right? But ownership was an unknown to us. And what we came to find out, uh, during that interview process was this is an incredibly warm, uh, humble uh, grounded set of people. um that love baseball and uh you know we were going to hold a pretty high bar if we were going to leave the Boston Red Sox organization and uh this cleared it because of of of that really um ownership’s love for baseball, how competitive they are and really how great a people they are. Like that’s what I really u bought into which uh you know made my wife and I think that this was the jump we were we were going to make. Andrew, hey Paul. Uh Andrew Golden, Washington Post. um for you given there’s a lot of responsibilities to hire a general manager, manager, there’s a lot of different roles to fill. How do you prioritize what you’re what you’re supposed to be working on or doing at this current point in time and how do you kind of assess what needs to be done as you look at the organization as a whole? Yeah, I think uh you know someone gave me some advice a while back and it’s move the big rocks first, right? And then you can kind of pick up the pebbles at a at a later date. So uh right now you know I’ve only been in the organization for a couple days. Um but um what I’m I’ve started to try to prioritize and what I’m going to continue to to prioritize is getting to know people, right? Like I what I said I really meant, right? Like you win with people and figuring out um not just what type of people we have um but how they think through creating a really good department or a really good scouting process or a really good um you know strategy in the dugout, whatever it might be. Like um that’s where I’m going to spend my time initially. And then uh you know there’s a lot to uh that that’s going to be coming our way right as the offseason starts. And um so it’s going to feel at times like I think all of us are drinking out of a fire hose and and that’s all right. Uh I think it goes back to the first point I made which is we’ll just prioritize on on moving the big rocks first. Hey Paul Spencer Nuspam from the Washington Post. I’m curious what sort of assurances you’ve gotten in terms of latitude for spending, hiring, um all those kind of processes. What sort of um assurances you’ve been given and how that influenced um your decision to take the job here. Yeah, more than anything like what I can point to is that I’m in this seat right now for a reason, right? and throughout the interview process and uh you know even after accepting the job uh I felt incredibly supported and um you know that’s the main thing I just I continue to feel that support and uh you know that will allow us to build a world-class organization uh which is what the goal for for all of us will be hi Paul Howard Fendrich with the Associated Press uh you mentioned the um heads of baseball operations you’ve worked worked under in the past. I’m curious, what would you say was the single best piece of advice you got from one of those people about constructing a team? Oh gosh, that’s a great question. Um, you know, I think I think maybe when you initially get into the game and you’re part of this younger demographic, right, like you think about just uh chasing players that uh maybe fit great on a spreadsheet, right? But there’s so much more to it, right? And having played like I’ve experienced it as well and felt it as well, right? And as the game has continued to modernize, right? Like uh placing a uh incredible amount of focus on uh creating a winning culture is um you know is front of mind for me and it’s something I learned from a few of those folks. And uh more than anything I think like what that means is and I see Derek back here. It’s like, you know, we we want to create an environment where our players are not just holding themselves accountable, um, but holding each other accountable. And I think if we do that, um, you know, we’ll we’ll make a lot of headway, uh, in terms of of, uh, building that winning culture that that we want to be proud of. Hey Paul, Jess Kimado from MLB.com. When you look at this Nationals team, what strikes you the most about this roster? You know, I think more than anything, we have some uh, young, exciting players, right? Um, I’ve been in touch with a number of them uh to date and uh they’re fun to watch and uh I’ve told, you know, many of them uh while I haven’t had the chance to reach out to everyone, I’ i’ve told many of them like uh and I really believe it. I think there’s another gear uh to tap into uh with many of them and and uh so it’s not just that they’re already really talented players, right? It’s that uh it’s easy for me to see a world a year or two down the line where uh we’re seeing a different caliber of player in a good way. Hey Paul, it’s Barry Superugo with Russian Post. My my question is actually for Mark. Um Mark, what in your conversations with Paul, what assurances did you give him from ownership that he would have the resources to build a modern front office and pay a a competitive payroll like you paid when you were in the playoffs all the time? Uh the we all gave him assurances. I would say that the family is determined to get back to where we were a few years ago. We’re going to do what it takes. We’re going to do that in conjunction with sitting down with Paul when he’s ready and saying, “I didn’t need to do this and need to do that.” And we’ll take it from there. This is not a decision has to be made today. But we we will be there and we’re going to get back to where we we know we should be. Uh good morning, David Aldridge with the Athletic. Um Paul um you were in an organization that won big and one consistently big for a long time and I just wonder what were some of the hallmarks of that organization that you think are transferable to this one? Uh you know honestly the thing I think about most is what I was I think I explained to uh was it Howard? Um, you know, especially this year, um, there is such an accountability piece uh on uh not just the major league staff, but amongst the player group. Um, that’s a a big thing for me. But also, you know, what I think about is like summers in Boston, right? Kids are, you know, they’re having fun during the day and uh they’re they’re um maybe going to summer school or playing sports or whatever it is, and then they’re showing up to Fenway at night, right? and Fenway is like their their safe place where they’re having a blast. And um you just you know it’s funny actually between um you know ending my time with the Red Sox and and fully hopping on board with the Nationals. I went to a game at Fenway just as a fan with two of my kids and I looked around and I was like gosh there are a lot of young kids here right? So when I think about that uh as it relates to DC and I see my kids right here it’s hey you want them you know playing sports or having fun during the day. We want them going to the museums, but then we want to create an environment where not just my kids, but kids around DC, around the greater region are filling up the park. Uh just because that’s it’s what it should be about. It’s a great sport. It’s the best sport uh in my opinion. And um I love it so much. And one of the reasons why I love it so much is I grew up in San Francisco going to Candlestick and Packbell or AT&T or you know SBC or Oracle, whatever they uh but I I went to hundreds of games, right? And I think that’s where I really fell in love with the game. And uh you know, I just I want I want kids in the DC area to to fall in love with the game the same way I did. Hey Paul, Toby Altizer 1067, the fan. You mentioned a scouting and development monster. How do you go about building from Boston to DC wants to win at the highest level. Congratulations. And welcome to our nation’s capital, Paul Tabone, president of baseball operations for the Washington Nationals. He was so grateful for being trusted to oversee this great organization.
MLB Network “Breaking News” Paul Toboni named Washington Nationals President of Baseball Operations – Press Conference
