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Friday’s joint Zoom meeting with new Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni and new general manager Anirudh Kilambi of course gave us insight into how the new dynamic at the top of the front office will work. And we’ll have much more on that to come.
But it also gave us the first chance to ask Toboni about a recent roster move he’s made since leaving the Winter Meetings in Orlando.
The 35-year-old executive could not comment on the reported signing of left-hander Foster Griffin to a one-year, $5.5 million deal, as that has not been made official yet. But he could discuss a trade he made with his former organization in a swapping of minor league pitchers.
On Monday, Toboni made his second trade since taking over the Nationals front office by sending left-hander Jake Bennett to the Red Sox in exchange for right-hander Luis Perales. Both pitchers have a lot of upside, but both are recently returning from Tommy John surgery. And of course, Toboni knows Perales well from his time overseeing Boston’s player development department.
“On the Perales-Bennett trade, a great opportunity to trade for a great talent in Luis,” Toboni said on the Zoom press conference Friday afternoon. “He's got swing-and-miss stuff. He's still coming back from the injury, but he should be ready to roll in spring training and ready for the start of the season. He's got a really exciting fastball, exciting secondary. And then just having been around him a good amount in Boston, he's a stud competitor. I think a number of us were just really drawn to that and kind of what he can achieve as a pitcher going forward for us. So really excited about the add.”
Perales had his surgery in June 2024 and returned to make three rehab appearances near the end of this season. He then went to pitch 11 ⅓ innings in the Arizona Fall League, striking out 19 hitters with his 100 mph fastball. He did, however, also walk 11 batters.
But the stuff is what excites Toboni and the Nats. Perales, who entered the system as the Nats’ No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline, flashes a triple-digit fastball that has a 70 grade on a 20-80 scale. And he’s improving his secondary stuff with an upper-80s splitter, mid-80s slider and low-90s cutter.
The key will be managing the 22-year-old’s work load in 2026 as he continues his comeback from Tommy John.
“We're just gonna be really thoughtful about his workload and make sure that he's prepared from a everything that takes place off the field – strength and conditioning – standpoint,” Toboni said. “All the proactive work he's going to do to make sure that we can keep him healthy and at his best. We're going to be very thoughtful about how we parse out innings for him and then we'll go from there.”
It was also the first time Toboni got to work with his former boss, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, on a deal since leaving Boston for Washington in late-September. A unique opportunity that may be the first of many more to come, thanks to the familiarity between the two.
“It's actually a lot easier, I think,” Toboni said of the process of dealing with his former team. “Just because, I think it starts with the relationship that Bres and I have. I think you can cut through a lot of the fluff to just kind of get to the meat of it. And then two, yeah, it was fun, because you're trading for a player that you know really well, both just like the baseball talent, but also the person. So it was a combination of, I wouldn't say seamless, but pretty efficient in our conversations. And then also you feel secure about the player that you're getting in return because of your familiarity with them. So yeah, you're certainly, I think, assuming less risk in many ways than a trade you'd make with a club that you're maybe a touch less familiar with.”
