BOSTON — Paul Toboni, one of four current Red Sox front office executives with the title of assistant general manger, is a candidate of interest for the Washington Nationals, who are seeking to hire a general manager, an industry source conformed.

The Nationals fired longtime executive Mike Rizzo in July and have had an interim GM, Mike DeBartolo, in place ever since.

At the same time, however, Toboni has emerged as the leading candidate to take over the same job with the Red Sox.

Toboni, 35, who was first hired as an intern by the Red Sox a decade ago, has had a meteoric rise through the organization, moving from area scout to director of amateur scouting to vice president of amateur scouting and player development to senior vice president and assistant GM.

He played college ball at the University of California.

Along with Toboni, Mike Groopman, Eddie Romero and Raquel Ferreira currently hold the title of assistant GM for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox have been without a GM since Craig Breslow replaced Chaim Bloom in October of 2023, with Breslow, like Bloom, taking on the title of chief baseball officer, overseeing the entire Baseball Operations staff.

But while Bloom promoted Brian O’Halloran to the position of GM in 2019, Breslow has gone without an officially designated general manager in his first two seasons on the job.

That will change soon, as Breslow has said he will hire a GM after the conclusion of the team’s season. Toboni is a favorite to be named to the position. He’s regarded as one of the game’s more promising young executives and has been targeted by several rival organizations who have sought to hire him away from the Sox.

In October of 2004, MassLive.com reported that Toboni was the clear in-house favorite to be promoted into the GM job.

The Boston Globe was first to report of Toboni’s link to the Nationals.

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