The Red Sox are promoting Paul Toboni to assistant general manager, as first reported by Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The 33-year-old had held the title of vice president of amateur scouting and player development.
Toboni was among the internal options whom the Sox considered in their search for a new front office leader after dismissing Chaim Bloom. He’d have had to jump a number of people on the organizational hierarchy to land that position, which always made him a long shot for the top job. Nevertheless, he lands a promotion a few months later under new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
Boston now has four assistant GMs: Toboni, Raquel Ferreira, Eddie Romero and Mike Groopman. Toboni moved quickly into the upper ranks of the organization. A collegiate infielder at Cal, he was hired by the Sox as a scout in 2015. By 2020, he’d been tabbed to orchestrate the club’s amateur drafts — a role he held through 2022.
While the Sox have a number of assistant general managers, they don’t have anyone currently holding the GM title. Breslow suggested at the time of his hiring as chief baseball officer that he wasn’t in a rush to tab a GM, who would serve as his top assistant in the front office.
Guess thats why they’ve missed out on pretty much everyone so far; they were busy rearranging deck chairs…
If im the GM all trade Story for Fernando Tatis jr.! Padres save money and he play SS for 2024 after he moved to the RF plus Monty or Snell… bring back Duvall 1/16 millions
Missed out on who?? U people are delusional
Rick – Here’s a partial list:
Imanaga
Candelario
Yamamoto
Nola
Gray
Wacha
Lugo
ERod
Teo
Ohtani
All players the Red Sox reportedly had interest in.
But who’s counting?
Shhhhh were looking for our deck chairs…….
What a move!!!
dewey – When all four AGM’s have differing opinions on a subject, how do you think they settle it? Beer pong?
Probably wind up with a better decision?
Fever – Don’t the 3 that existed before today seem more like wine spritzer types?
TF – Yes! Haha!
Just based on titles, VP seems like a higher level than AGM.
With 4 last places finishes in last 5 seasons how do these clowns still have a job?!!!!?
The drafts have almost single handedly given the Sox a top ten farm. This moves allows them to hold onto him unless he lands a GM or POBO position.
NY – Some such as MLB Pipeline have them ranked 16th.
Regardless, why would anyone rather be one of four AGM’s when they could have a lot more authority and opportunity for advancement with an organization that has only one or two AGM’s?
NewYorkSoxFan – WHAT? You are incredibly misinformed.
The drafts have all been busts under Bloom. Not one of the picks has shot up the radar except Anthony. That’s an awful lot of misses.
Wake up about how rankings work. You draft fourth and whether you pick the right guy or not you jump incredibly in the rankings. That’s why during Bloom’s era the farm system ranking went up. It wasn’t good picks, it was early picks!!!
Fever – This probably won’t happen but is Breslow now in a position to clean house? I’m sure he has a targeted manager he wants and now he can fire the other 3 crap AGMs and Cora and have his own team without all the bureaucracy!!
It might not happen but he’s in a position to take command if he has the balls.
Ali baba & the 40 AGM’s…….
TF – Other than front office insiders, there’s no way for anyone to know how much clout Breslow has.
Because of his lack of experience, it would have been perfectly reasonable for Henry to tell him no front office or managerial firings during his first year.
In most corporate settings, firings must be approved by two levels of management. So Breslow would have the right to tell Henry he’d like to fire a certain person, and Henry would have the right to support or reject the decision.
Fever – Why does everyone think Henry is Jimmy Jones? I don’t see it. I see a guy who sits back and keeps one eye on the Red Sox and his other eye on his other adventures. He says yes to almost anything proposed to him and he gets offended when a player challenges him like Mookie or a GM gets more credit than he does for winning a ring. I don’t see him as the micro manager that you and so many see.
Your last statement is correct. He would need permission to fire Cora and he’d spend lots of time with HR making sure the slippery Cora doesn’t try to go after the organization.
TF – Micro-managing is not something I’ve criticized Henry about. He approves 9-figure contracts, that’s about it. I’ve said many times if Bloom was more intelligent/experienced/whatever, he could have gotten the Sox under the threshold in 2020 without trading Mookie. That’s not on Henry, he didn’t order Mookie to be traded.
And as for firing Cora, as I mentioned before it’s customary to require two levels of management to approve a firing. Cora reports to Breslow, who reports to Henry. At least that’s my understanding, maybe Cora reports directly to Henry because of the info Cora has on him!
Fever – THAT”S FAIR!!!! I think he may report to Henry!
Maybe they can create a OAASB position for Cora.
Owner Assistant AND Scum Bag
Because they’re doing what Henry tells them to do!!
Box – You ever heard the term “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets it’s wings”?
Well every time the Red Sox finish last, a member of the front office gets rewarded with a promotion to Assistant GM.
You’ve clearly never worked in corporate America. Lots of companies have hundreds of VPs. It becomes meaningless.
” He’d have had to jump a number of people on the organizational hierarchy to land that position”
I would love to see a layout of the Red Sox organizational flow chart.
“I would love to see a layout of the Red Sox organizational flow chart.”
Don’t go into the light!
I thought they were only interested in Toboni?
Why did URIAS GET OFF SCOTT FREE?
“Boys will be boys” is the motto the LADA goes by
He’s not being charged with a felony. He will not be getting away scot-free.
wino – I’ve often wondered, who is this scot guy and why does he always get off free?
If you know anything about Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon you wouldn’t need to ask such questions (you could also literally commit murder and be home in time for dinner).
The interesting “punishment” will be whatever MLB hands out. If he re-signs with the Dodgers Manfred will probably give him 5 games and if he signs anywhere else he’ll probably get 100…
Rsox – Wait…. isn’t the policy under this commissioner – If you do something that intrinsically damages the game like cheating you get a slap on the hands but if you do something unpopular with the public image of baseball you get clobbered through suspension? I think that’s what Bauer thinks and while the commissioner may consider what Bauer did taboo it wasn’t illegal nor family related. The Urias situation is family related and was illegal. So Urias should get a longer suspension than Bauer BUT I’m sure Friedman will dictate the punishment just like he did in the Bauer case. I believe Friedman liked Urias much more than Bauer so a much smaller punishment is likely to happen despite it being family related which was supposed to be the essence of the new rule.
Sox got there man! Full Throttle (Yep I said it!) To the moon and back! Tobologne’s first job is to get Snell, and then Montgomery, then Soler. Trade Jansen and Dalbec for Burnes. Heck yes – all doable! Expect BIG results this week into the weekend! Eat that Brian O’Halloran! BTW Red Sox don’t need a GM as they already have one according to this link…. mlb.com/redsox/team/front-office/brian-ohalloran
O’Halloran is a useless idiot. But these AGM’s are all leashed by Henry.
More yes men to agree J Henry’s other investments are killing the Sox.
butch – You have offended useless idiots all over the world with your comments!!! O’Halloran and the three amigos who mismanaged the Red Sox before Bloom mismanaged them are all worthless. They all could be fired and nobody would notice since they did absolutely nothing for the benefit of the organization. They are all lame duck executives put on a shelf to be admired but not consulted.
shortstop – Apparently the lazy people who run the Red Sox website need more help, as they haven’t had time to update it to reflect O’Halloran’s new title of VPOBO.
They are gonna need to do another expansion at Fenway to accommodate the ever-growing front office.
What’s the blueprint for the elite teams?
Since 2018 Andrew Millers slider has been exposed, that’s why like 600 guys throw it from ALL ARM ANGLES as good or better than Andrew Miller.
Didn’t you think it was odd when Matt Blake, Ethan Katz got hired, Didn’t you think the Sweeper is what a pitch does and not a TYPE of pitch?
I know I already impressed you with what I know cause nobody is reporting this for obvious reasons so the general public has no idea what’s happening.
I know all this cause I started this blueprint the Rays have. I taught Glasnow and dozens of ML pitchers my “Football Slider in May 2018 on twitter, the Rays noticed that football slider he threw June 19 2018 vs MIL. The Rays blueprint is to teach that Roger Beshens football slider to ALL their pitchers and spend most of the money on hitting.
Oh the Roger Beshens football slider is…This is how I taught ML pitchers my twitter, I messaged them 2 or 4 seam on label or any on center grip, throw like a football, stiff wrist. That’s the Grip, Tilt and Wrist action that’s needed.
If you Google “Roger Beshens Brandon McCarthy twitter” and click images there’s the proof. He asked me how to throw my football slider May 29 2018 and messaged me back on June 3 2018 that he threw it June 2 2018 vs the Nats.
Best Regards,
Roger Beshens
You are a little weird
…..and possibly a little drunk. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Roger, how is the Football Slider 2.0 coming along? I’ve been hearing rumors from a lot of different people…
I thought the new unit table pitch was a room temperature hockey puck crazy flutter from an off-wing’s twisted twister
Note-appearing as a baseball after passing through your typical sports wormhole, of course.
(Not drunk-but I like Cabernet)
Unhittable* pitch* NOT unit table pitch
Paddyo, I’ve heard whispers of such a pitch as well. I have thought it mere myth up until now..
If I wasn’t so drunk I’d be sober.
dewey – When all four AGM’s have differing opinions on a subject, how do you think they settle it? Beer pong?
Maybe there was pressure from very influential people. Julio is from Culiacán after all.
I’m here because I’m looking for Aren’t comment questioning this man’s qualifications for the job but I can’t find it.
Agree. White male privilege
No such thing. In 2024 being a white male is a disadvantage in most things based on the attitudes of a large chunk of the country.
GASox – Absolutely correct, and it’s openly called payback for when there actually was white male privilege many decades ago. Apparently “two wrongs don’t make a right” is selectively applied these days.
GaSoxFan — Do you mean large amounts of white males think being a white male is a disadvantage? Or large amounts of not-white-males?
FPG — Decades ago? Can you please tell me what powerful group is not run by a majority of white males?
Political (fed/state), Judiciary (fed/state), Fortune 500 companys, Military, Police, Banking & Finance, Hollywood, TV, News, Hospitals and Medical research, Colleges & Universities, heads of Churches, and, of course, Sports Teams are all majority American white male run.
What are the powerful/influential industries/professions that white males “decades ago” ran but no longer do?
O’s – I’m not gonna get into a long discussion because this isn’t the place for it and it would probably be removed anyway, but I will tell you one thing that immediately comes to mind – every level of gov especially large cities. You as an O’s fan should know that by looking at the Baltimore Mayors, DA’s and Chiefs of Police over the past couple decades.
More than half of the nation’s largest cities are run by mayors who are not White Males.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_the_50_lar…
And oh yeah, the administration that is currently leading the entire country:
millercenter.org/b iden-administration-tracker/demo…
30 White Males out of 100 positions in the administration
56 Females
14 Non-White Males
Okay that’s enough, your response will tell me if you’re being sincere or just trolling.
O – Are you still living in the past?
The media is your biggest supporter.
Break down the make-up of the USA racially and tell me if the representation in commercials, TV shows, the internet or other media outlets reflect the actual make-up of America.
Businesses are owned by the wealthy. If the wealthy people aren’t non white males, is that the fault of non-white males? You don’t get what it means to be a white male. Your hatred is directed at the 1% of America that is white males. The 66% of America who are middle class or lower class white males aren’t any different from you. The prejudice minorities claim don’t happen to white males is inaccurate because just like white males can’t understand non white male plight, non white males can’t comprehend non 1%er white male plight.
Police forces that are mixed still treat poor people far worse than rich people. That’s not going to change in the near future. Non white students with average grades get into schools white students with comparable grades have no chance of getting into.
The problem with the world is the idea of the best qualified getting the job has been replaced by a fear of social back lash if you don’t select the right person according to the extremely liberal media. That’s messed up.
The wrongs of the past have not only happened to non whites and non whites don’t seem to understand that because they are so wrapped up in the hatred for being treated badly but the non whites who have been subjected to similar injustice have no voice because all whites are lumped into a single 1% category. So next time you want to complain about being in an inferior position to the 1%er white males get in line. The entire world is treated differently than the 1%ers whether they are white or non white.
TF – As usual, superb post!!!
Yes many demographics have been treated harshly in US history, including Jewish and Italian. Discrimination in many forms has existed throughout world history, it’s always wrong.
The key is how you respond to it.
Fever Pitch Guy — Yeah, your right not the time or place. I too will keep it brief.
There are rules, and there are exceptions to the rules. Exceptions do not disprove Rules.
Eg. Americans like Chicken. While the majority do, there are Vegetarians. As a rule, Americans chickens. Vegetarians are an exception. The presence of Vegetarians, while true, does not disprove Chicken lovers.
As a rule, White Privilege exists. There are of course exceptions. You point to the Administration, but against the whole of the federal government, it is just a Vegetarian.
Same with the example of cities…cities are part of America, not the whole. Here in Maryland, if a Mayoral candidate got all the votes from Baltimore and surrounding suburbs, they would not win the state against the not-city whole of the state. That would follow in almost all States–no major city population can win against the field. (Speaking in rules, not exceptions here, I’d imagine states like NH, VE, ME, NM might have different proportions).
Longer than I thought, meh, sorry. Just one mans POV. Appreciate the exchange.
…and for the record, I’m scared a bit about BOS this year. Young core hitters of Casas and Devers gonna bring a lot of pain…could be one of those outta nowhere years in Boston, idk
O’s – I appreciate your response, and I understand it.
Thank you for keeping it friendly, and good luck to your team.
Trollfree: For me, yes, TV and media do reflect the community I live in presently, and those that I lived before.
As for white privilege goes, it comes in many forms. Plenty of white folks don’t have benefit of generational wealthy…but many do benefit. Regardless of wealth, privilege also applies to not being screened at TSA the same way others are, and those elements of white privilege all white folk have.
I agree that the Class part of the discussion gets missed/overlooked/discounted regularly. However, the wealthy and affluent of every society in the history of mankind have maintained their economic and political influence. Even good ol’ JC had a run in w/ money lenders. Access to wealth is a humankind issue.
It also bears noting that there are plenty of white males that do understand and push for DEI. People forget Nixon was a pioneer of almost all the DEI initiatives/legislation. DEI is from the 60’s era…though some think it’s new.
Anyway, good exchange. No hate here. Play ball!
And remember Nixon’s Southern Strategy. Always a crowd pleaser for the oppressed white male.
Good to know the Red Sox are making things happen where it counts.
What the hell happened to this team? Unwatchable garbage.
Obviously they’re full of TABONI!!
Quite the full throttle move…..
Now they should have enough folks in the FO to start working on the roster……..or maybe let’s just hit the ground running next winter instead. Ownership: “I like the sound of that a lot.”
solar – They still have the GM and POBO positions to fill.
John Henry – “Players are expensive, so instead we will spend more money on new front office positions that aren’t needed”.
Fever – I get why you think there is a GM spot to be filled under Breslow but didn’t they just rename POBO to CBO? I’m surprised calling him a chief didn’t offend people. I still prefer POBO.
TF – Yes Breslow is CBO.
There’s a VPOBO, but no POBO.
There’s 4 AGM’s, but no GM.
So I’m thinking there’s a good chance they will fill those two positions at some time in the future. But it’s the Red Sox, so who knows. They tend to not make any sense. If they like someone, they will create a position for them.
Maybe Cora will fill that GM position at the end of this year.
Fever – If you EVER put that out into the universe again I will hunt you down. Cora needs to be fired, jailed and banned from baseball. Making him a GM is ABSOLUTELY INSANE and the very idea of you saying that publicly puts it into the universe unfairly. Shame on you.
Were you just trying to double my blood pressure?
TF – Do you still not believe all the reports that Cora would like to join the front office someday?
The way I look at it, he would do LESS damage as a powerless GM than he would as the field manager.
Remember, GM is not nearly the title it used to be. CBO has replaced it in the Red Sox front office.
Is it me or has the fire sale just morphed into a dumpster fire? Let me see if I understand this situation: 1. Our low performing GM was fired and we replaced him with a guy who claimed the handcuff from the outgoing for himself; 2. Full throttle? Yeah, full throttle into the laughing stocks; 3. team ownership is in diversification mode. How many sports teams can we buy with our $4 Billion dollar baseball team? In 2001 Red Sox bought for $770 Million. Today’s worth $4 Billion. Meanwhile Bloom probably wanted to spend and they squirt him with a fire hose. Now Brealow is drink from that hose and says he’s in no rush to hire a GM to be his assistant while a 33 year old is now a GM assistant and scout. What?
Don’t know if I can watch this extremely slow crash happen for 6 months.
Red Sox may be in on Clevinger
I hear Pedro is available
He’s still probably better than what they’ve got, but then so is Bartolo Colon…
Sounds like too many cooks are in the kitchen but not enough of then know how to cook in a 5 star restaurant.
So Red Sox can’t pony up more then 30 mil for Imanaga ? Were they really even in on him then ? They must be flat broke !
Sounds like he gets 30 million if he sucks but if he is the pitcher people want or expect him to be its 80 million at least likley more since there are opt outs per jim bowden…so..yea sure the could have paid 30 mil for trash..but chose not to pay 80 for what could be
Big – I can’t decide what’s a bigger slap in the face, the Sox paying $8.5M more for Lucas “Innings Eater” Giolito or the fact Breslow did the extensive evaluation of Shota for the Cubs.
Def Shota ! The standard for Boston is World Series and rightfully so but that expectation does cut into how clever Red Sox have been this offseason. I love all their moves. And the only thing it’s missing is acquiring a couple big names in the mist of those moves.
Giolito at his peak was around the 10-15th best pitcher in baseball, still under 30, and gets plenty of grace from me for playing on the white sox and being traded around. He could be the best value of the offseason. Same w O’Neil. But u cant guarantee Oscar 2/40 ? Or 1/25 ? Then land an ace in free agency ? They are coming across broke and unable to compete on top stage after giving the impression they can for past couple decades
Breslow knows exactly what he wants. No thank you on these bloated contracts for mediocre return. Imanga at Fenway would be a DISASTER. This ownership group is methodical and brilliant. We’ve won 20% of championships since 04 and u clowns are judging them. Dopes
The 20% since 2004 is valid and should not be discounted but you must see this club has been run totally differently since 2020..something has changed and fans arent stupid we all gave the benefit of the doubt based on the past titles but 3 last place finishes in 4 years is unacceptible. Clearly the methodical brilliant plan failed and ownership trying sell it otherwise is insulting to an intelligent informed fanbase paying the bill
Pool – Superb response!
I think Rick might be one of the 200 Red Sox front office employees with plenty of time on their hands.
Which equates to 1 championship every 5 years, which is great but do you consider multiple last place finishes inbetween acceptable? There is zero reason in a market like Boston for the Sox not to be competitive year-in-and-year-out and you don’t need “bloated contracts” to do it
Rsox – FACT: The Red Sox have finished in last place 6 out of the past 12 seasons, which is the most in MLB.
Absolutely embarrassing for the amount of money they spend, no fanbase wants to root for a team that is not even competitive every other year.
Fever – BE FAIR.
DD – 3 consecutive wins and a 3rd
BLOOM – 2nd and 3 last place finishes
CHERINGTON – 1 win and 3 last place finishes
Boston’s inconsistency is all on the GM selections.
DD was great and got fired prematurely ruining a great run.
BLOOM and CHERINGTON sucked. Sure CHERINGTON won in 2013 by fluke but 3 last place finishes like Bloom says it all about how well he did. It was his $41MM of dead contracts that limited the finances of the club during both DD’s and Bloom’s eras.
Giving up DD ranks 3 on all time mistakes by Boston ownership!!
1 – Babe Ruth to NYY
2 – Mookie to LAD
3 = Firing the greatest Boston GM in history
TF – You’re preaching to the choir! I know Dombrowski’s Red Sox tenure was very succcessful. He inherited a last place team and immediately turned it into 3 consecutive division titles …. shoulda been 4 consecutive if not for Cora in 2019.
Of the 6 last place finishes, 3 were under Bloom and 3 were under Cherington. Why did you think I was talking about Dombrowski? Haha!
Fever – You put it on the Ownership and I tried to redirect the ire to the specific GMs. I know you know how good DD was. So many people are blaming the owners for things they didn’t really do. They picked Cherington twice so that is a bad choice just like Bloom. The jury is out on Breslow so far. Will he be a guy who brings back so division titles or simply be a guy who preaches waiting because things will get better? I have no idea. I hope for the division titles without Cora..
Full throttle, baby. For the FO. Players, nah.
Ghost – The Red Sox must rent out TD Garden for their holiday parties to accommodate all the employees.
Fire up the duck boats!
How many people does it take to not make any moves or sign anyone? Full Throttle!
4 primary owners
Fiscal conservancy has been the rally cry in the front office since they finished in last place in 19.
Bobby – You should place the blame on lame GMs not ownership. There is no reason to believe the ownership held back the spending based on the ridiculous contracts that got approved!!
DEVER’S albatross contract for $300MM
Story’s horrendous $23.3MM for a guy who can’t hit
Yoshi’s $18MM for half a decade of play by an OF who can’t field and should play DH except Devers needs to play DH.
If contracts are not submitted for approval they can’t be approved.
BLAME THE GMs not the Owners until the owners come out and say they are limiting the money. So far, that has not happened except on Mookie’s deal.
$70m to Devers, story, and yoshida….
Ack.
GASox – As TF would say, be fair!
Why stop there?
You should also include $19.25M for a pitcher with consecutive 5-ish ERAs, and $16M for just 44 innings from an average closer.!
Fever – NOW THAT’S FAIR!!! Horrible choice because it’s a long shot that he becomes a #1 or #2. We need guaranteed inning eaters that are #1 and #2 SPs.
Fever – Did you see Freidman duped the Cub GM into some pretender prospects like he did with Bloom. Too bad there is no baseball jail for stealing!!
TF – So very true!!!
The way I look at it, they are down to 4 options left … Monty, Snell, Cease and Burnes. As long as they don’t do anything stupid like trading for Cease, they should hopefully get one of the other three. If they wanna be cheap, then trade Rafaela and Dalbec for Burnes. Or Houck and Dalbec and Valdez.
TF – No, who did Friedman get? I was out with the Mrs so didn’t keep up tonight.
Fever – one hasn’t stepped on the field yet for the team so let’s see what he does before throwing him on the heap. Maybe breslow sees something.
The other, is only a 1 year deL, originally two, I wish would be traded and always thought was over priced.
But the biggest reason I left them off was they were short term, and the others I listed were 5 or more year deals that hamstring spending
GASox – Fair enough, you know I was just teasing anyway ;O)
Yes I certainly hope between Breslow and Bailey they can fix pitchers like Gio, I’m just not very optimistic because three teams tried to fix Gio last year and all failed.
Dodgers are pursuing Kenley, I would HOPE the Sox don’t have to eat any of his contract.
Fever, you know it, I know it, but the general population didn’t know it. Besides, it’s a fair question to those who bother keeping reading why some contracts are worse than others.
I consider it a teaching moment for them.
As far as Kenley goes, I HOPE breslow doesn’t trade him to LA for 3 reasons:
1) you’re going to get overhyped but ultimately not useful prospects back, their FO is good at teeing that up;
2) nothing has changed with the scouts and AGMs Breslow needs to rely upon to evaluate return prospects. Look no further than the Mookie trade, and, see prior reason, to understand why this FO can’t be counted on to cut through the hype job and extract quality returns from LA; and
3) LA doesn’t have what Boston needs in return for Kenley, but, other closer needy teams DO, and, don’t suffer from problems 1 & 2.
I’m not worried about eating $$$ on his deal to improve return significantly.