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Nationals Reportedly Decide on Future of Mike DeBartolo With Organization

Originally posted on Washington Nationals on SI
By Brad Wakai | Last updated Oct 8, 2025 7:00 PM ET

The shake-up in the Washington Nationals organization this offseason has begun.

After officially hiring Paul Toboni to become the president of baseball operations, he started to make some changes. Longtime front office executives Eddie Longosz and Mark Scialabba will not be back in 2026, as they were part of a sizable group of employees who departed.

Toboni will continue to shape the organization in his vision, and that could mean even more changes. Someone whose future with the Nationals wasn't clear was Mike DeBartolo, the interim general manager who took over after Mike Rizzo was fired.

Because he didn't get hired to the full-time role, there were questions if he would stay in Washington or look for an opportunity elsewhere. And if he did want to stay, it wasn't clear if Toboni would keep him around or not.

But according to Brittany Ghirolo, who initially reported the news about the front office shake-up that occurred on Wednesday, DeBartolo is going to stay on with the Nationals.

Mike DeBartolo, who served as interim Gm and was a candidate to lead baseball ops, will remain with the organization sources say. https://t.co/LViOqMEjDl
— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) October 8, 2025

This is interesting because many of the previous departures were those who were longtime employees under the former regime. DeBartolo falls into that category, too, since he was hired by Rizzo back in 2013 as a baseball operations analyst after he served as an intern.

DeBartolo worked his way up the ladder, going from that analyst position to the manger of baseball research and development to the director of baseball operations and eventually an assistant general manager role in 2019. He was then given a vice president title before being named a senior vice president in 2024.

It's Unclear What Role Mike DeBartolo Will Have

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While Ghirolo stated that DeBartolo will be returning to Washington, she didn't give insight into what role he's going to have in Toboni's front office at the time of writing.

Toboni stated he was considering hiring a general manager to work underneath of him in that capacity, but he also added that it wasn't a top priority of his as he enters the offseason. Whether or not DeBartolo will fill that role isn't clear.

However, the retention of DeBartolo does make sense on the surface. While he's a longtime Rizzo employee, he's also been more analytically driven than the previous regime, which should work well with what Toboni is going to bring to the table.

What the official role for DeBartolo is going to be will be something to monitor, as a key spot in this new front office could have been filled.