The Boston Red Sox entered the 2025-26 offseason with no shortage of priorities - most of them centered on reshaping the roster. But not all the action was on the field. One key piece of the front office puzzle remained unresolved: the team still hasn’t named a general manager to work under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
Their top internal candidate? Paul Toboni - a longtime member of the Red Sox front office and assistant GM who had steadily risen through the ranks. But instead of stepping into a bigger role in Boston, Toboni took an even bigger leap - becoming the president of baseball operations for the Washington Nationals.
And it didn’t take long for Toboni to make his presence felt in D.C.
In a bold, franchise-shaping move on January 22, Toboni pulled the trigger on his first major trade as the Nationals’ top decision-maker, sending left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore to the Texas Rangers in exchange for five prospects. All five immediately landed in the Nationals’ top 30 prospect rankings, according to MLB Pipeline.
The headliner? Gavin Fien - now Washington’s No. 5 prospect - a name that should ring a bell in Boston.
The Red Sox had their eyes on Fien during the 2025 MLB Draft, but the Rangers beat them to the punch with a higher pick.
Toboni’s fingerprints are all over this deal, and for those who’ve followed his work in Boston’s scouting department, the move feels familiar. This is a front office executive who helped shape some of the Red Sox’s most aggressive and calculated trade strategies in recent years.
From the blockbuster that sent Mookie Betts to L.A., to the Chris Sale and Garrett Crochet deals, Boston hasn’t exactly been shy about swinging big. It looks like Toboni took that playbook with him to Washington.
What’s also clear is that the Nationals were ready for this kind of move. Even before Toboni arrived, they weren’t afraid to make seismic trades.
Just look back to the 2022 deadline, when they dealt Juan Soto to San Diego. That return - which included CJ Abrams, James Wood, and Gore himself - laid the foundation for the next era of Nationals baseball.
Now, with Gore flipped for a fresh haul of high-upside talent, Toboni is putting his stamp on the rebuild. And while Washington’s offseason has been relatively quiet up until now, this move signals that the new regime isn’t afraid to take calculated risks to accelerate the process.
Meanwhile, in Boston, the GM search has taken a backseat to the team’s flurry of offseason activity - and a few notable swings and misses in free agency. But Toboni’s quick impact in Washington is a reminder of what might’ve been. Had the Red Sox been able to keep him in-house, it’s fair to wonder how different their offseason might have looked.
One thing is clear: Toboni’s not easing into his new role. He’s already showing a willingness to make bold, organization-defining moves - and he’s doing it with a sharp eye for talent that Boston fans know all too well.