Toboni, Butera have plenty of work to do as offseason begins

The 2025 Major League Baseball season ended early Sunday morning, in just about as dramatic fashion as possible. Whether you were happy, upset or indifferent to the result, you have to admit Game 7 of the World Series was an all-timer.

Now, as the Dodgers prepare for another victory parade and the Blue Jays come to grips with as narrow a defeat as it gets, the rest of the baseball world enters the offseason. And around here, there’s a lot to do.

It’s already been plenty busy for the Nationals, who named Paul Toboni their new president of baseball operations one month ago and named Blake Butera their new manager four days ago. In between, Toboni made a number of changes to the front office. But there’s still so much more to do, and that’s before we even get to the roster.

There are plenty more openings to fill in the front office, and though Toboni so far has brought in several execs who previously worked alongside him in Boston, he’s also going to need to look outside his comfort zone as he assembles the rest of the baseball operations department. Perhaps next week’s GM Meetings in Las Vegas will provide an opportunity for him to meet with candidates in person.

Butera, meanwhile, needs a coaching staff. The Nationals aren’t holding a press conference to formally introduce the 33-year-old for a couple more weeks because his wife just so happened to give birth to the couple’s first child Thursday, the same day he signed his contract. The club will give him and his growing family time to get settled before flying him up to D.C. for his public unveiling, but in the meantime he needs to start figuring out who is going to work alongside him in the dugout.

All members of the Nationals’ 2025 coaching staff are now unemployed, their contracts having expired Oct. 31. And most are not expected to be brought back to work under Butera, though a few could be retained, most notably pitching strategist Sean Doolittle and assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson, whose profiles might mesh well with the new, young front office and manager who figure to incorporate more analytics and technology into the program.

Butera, who has never played nor managed beyond low Single-A, is going to need some experienced coaches on his staff. It remains to be seen what kind of big league contacts he has already at his young age, or how much autonomy he’ll have to pick his own coaches. Under the circumstances, you would think Toboni and his top assistants will have a lot of say in this process.

Beyond the major league staff, the Nationals also have to assemble their minor league coaching staff. There figure to be significant changes across the board, with a real emphasis on creating cohesiveness across every level of the organization.

Oh yeah, and there’s the roster. This is ultimately about putting a team on the field next spring, and there’s no shortage of work that needs to be done in that realm.

The first task is to whittle the 40-man roster down in the coming days. Everyone who was on the 60-day injured list season’s end – in the Nats’ case, that was Josiah Gray, DJ Herz, Derek Law, Drew Millas and Trevor Williams – needs to be activated and take up residence on the 40-man roster again throughout the entire offseason.

Unlike the others on that list, Law’s contract expired after the season. So the veteran reliever, along with first baseman Josh Bell and infielder Paul DeJong, officially became a free agent Sunday after the conclusion of the World Series. So those three players no longer count against the Nationals’ 40-man roster.

The Nats got a jump on the whittling down process last week when catchers Jorge Alfaro and CJ Stubbs, left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara and right-handers Mason Thompson and Eduardo Salazar all cleared waivers. Alfaro, Thompson and Salazar all elected to become free agents. Stubbs and Ogasawara were outrighted to Triple-A Rochester, so they remain in the organization but no longer on the 40-man roster.

That actually leaves the Nationals with only 37 players on the roster once the 60-day IL guys are activated. No other moves are immediately necessary to clear spots, but don’t be surprised if several more players are dropped along the way as Toboni prepares to add some via free agency or trades, plus leaving a few spots open for minor leaguers who need to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft.