Nationals Interim General Manager Ready To Bring 'Real Change' To Franchise

The Washington Nationals shook things up this past weekend.

After it seemed like the ownership group was going to patiently wait out this rebuild with two pillars of the organization in charge, they instead opted to fire longtime executive Mike Rizzo and World Series-winning manager Dave Martinez.

It was a decision that put everyone on notice.

The multi-year rebuilding process appears like it's ready to be over based on the talent that currently is on the Major League roster, but with another disappointing season taking place thus far, the Lerner family felt like something needed to change.

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So in steps interim general manager Mike DeBartolo and interim manager Miguel Cairo.

With just under half a year remaining in the 2025 campaign, both will have the opportunity to prove they belong in these roles going forward.

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And for DeBartolo, he's ready to make his imprint felt on the franchise.

"We have a lot more we need to build. Simply stepping up our game is not enough. We need real change. I'm excited to bring a fresh approach, a fresh voice to this role, and integrate more data, more technology, more innovation into our decision-making across the organization at all levels and hopefully improve the performance of our players as well," he said to reporters on Tuesday, per Jessica Camerato of MLB.com.

DeBartolo has been with the Nationals since 2012 as an intern, becoming the assistant general manager in 2019.

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He has been an integral part of the analytics side of the baseball operations team, and he's ready to utilize more of that on a larger scale with him now serving as the acting general manager.

"Coming from an analytics background and building up that department, I'm excited to try to leverage both analytics and also new technology throughout the organization," DeBartolo said. "We have a lot of great information, and I think there are ways it could be integrated more into all of our processes. I think I'd like to lead that sort of transition and integrate that even further."

Based on how many young players are currently on their roster and how many more are expected to join them through the pipeline, becoming a more modern organization could change the future of this franchise going forward.

DeBartolo believes things need to change, and he's going to try to usher that in during his tenure; whether that's for just the rest of this 2025 season or longer.

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