This was the first Hot Stove event for the new Washington Nationals executives. In fact, incoming President of Business Operations, Jason Sinnarajah, said that he’s only been in his position for two weeks. Manager Blake Butera was hired officially on Halloween, and President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, was hired at the end of September.
The three didn’t hype anything. There were few “rah rah” moments. Rather there was a pointed moment for Toboni to clear the air, and he called out a Washington Post article — not by name — but it was clear that he was referring to their sourced report that painted Toboni as an aggressor in trying to trade CJ Abrams and Jacob Young when the newspaper said that they were both being “shopped.” Now we all know the context between “listening” and being “shopped,” and Toboni did three interviews last week after MacKenzie Gore was traded to more passively say that he wasn’t calling other teams — and today, Toboni just came out and made it crystal clear:
“… An article [in the Washington Post] came out that we were shopping CJ Abrams and Jacob Young. I called both of them, and I said, ‘This was a load of you-know-what.’ … I wanted to be truthful with them. We’re not shopping you both.”
— Toboni said at the Hot Stove event today
This is a lesson to the Nats’ media that if you say something that isn’t accurate about Toboni, he might call you out on it. That is something his predecessor never did. It led to an easy target of low-hanging fruit to basically say what you want with no repercussions. Will the Washington Post print a retraction? We will see.
Here is the video for you to hear it:
We learned from Butera that guys are working hard at the West Palm team facility at the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. Of special mention, Robert Hassell III has put on 25 pounds, and we would call that a lot of bulk. Hopefully that works out. We saw what it did to both Victor Robles and Young in the past.
Toboni talked about how he believes in talking to players as individuals where it isn’t one size fits all. Not all players react to the same message. He was talking about this in regards to all of the analytics that the team is bringing into the forefront with the newly hired personnel and technological advancements in software and machines.
On prospects, Toboni talked a lot about Eli Willits and Gavin Fien as the “two best position players” in the 2025 draft, and now they are both with the Nats. Willits was acquired as the №1 draft pick, and while Fien was the №12 draft pick, the Nats acquired him as part of the Gore trade. Toboni expects Fien to stay on the left side of the infield — not first base as some in the media had speculated.
On catcher Harry Ford, Toboni said he will “put no limits” on him, and he will compete as the starting catcher. But Toboni said there are a few things that he has to work on. He didn’t say what exactly say what Ford’s deficiencies are right now. Toboni to praise his speed, and his grasp of the strike zone as a batter.
“We’re intent on listening on players. But we are not intent on trading [certain] players. That’s the truth.”
— Toboni said
There was a lot of talk about Abrams. Maybe too much, and Toboni said that he and Butera drove to the stadium together and had a long conversation about Abrams and the gist of it was that “We’re both excited to have CJ Abrams as a player on this team.” Toboni did say, that he won’t guarantee that Abrams will be on the roster, just that he didn’t find any discussion that went into advanced conversations on trading him.
Toboni wants everyone judged based on actions and results. And he knows that fans will judge him. That comes with the territory, and Toboni said, “I get it. … judge us on actual actions.” That seems to point on waiting for results.
As far as the acclimation process goes, Butera said that the day he was hired, his phone went nuts, and he couldn’t answer the phone because his wife just gave birth to their daughter. During sleep breaks, he would leave the room and return phone calls. He said there have been as many as 17 players (on his high count) of players coming in and out of the Nats training facility in West Palm Beach. He sees Hassell and Nasim Nunez on almost a daily basis.
He’s been communicating with staff and players by text, phone calls, ZOOM calls, and they did the staff retreat in DC two weeks ago. Now he wants to give anyone who is still with their families a final week without bothering them with phone calls, before they all convene officially in Florida on February 9 with Pitchers and Catchers reporting.
As Butera said about his players and coaches, we’re going to spend the next eight months together. The math doesn’t exactly work to that unless the Nats are playing into October for the postseason. But that was great to hear him say.
We also heard from Sinnarajah who is very new to his position on the business side. He was a man of his words, and stayed for an hour after everyone left to talk to anyone who wanted to talk to him. And I know how long it took — because I (along with Don) were the last persons in line. What a nice person. Very well polished.
Powerboater talked to Sinnarajah earlier, vand he said he read his article yesterday — and said he has been reading TalkNats daily since accepting the job. He said he appreciated what we did. Nats Bike Valet also talked to him 1-on-1 earlier.
The Nationals also showed on QR code on the screen that allows someone to sign up for updates on the broadcasting details. There was not any new news that was reported at the event, just a way to track any updates in the future.
While this Hot Stove didn’t have the rousing applause of previous events, you may not get that until this team is actually winning in the postseason. Toboni is not the type to make promises he cannot keep. The words “truth” and “honesty” came up a few times from Toboni. Some fans walked away uninspired and disappointed, but most felt that while the rebuild will take a bit longer than expected — there is hope of sustained winning on the other side of it.
