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WASHINGTON — Ani Kilambi joined the Nationals as their new general manager on Thursday, making the 31-year-old who had been with the Philadelphia Phillies the latest young face to join president of baseball operations Paul Toboni in Washington.
Kilambi has been an assistant general manager for the Phillies, working with that club since 2021.
Before that, he was with the Tampa Bay Rays for more than five years.
Kilambi takes over a job that was held for more than a decade and a half by Mike Rizzo, who became the GM in Washington in 2009 and added the title of president of baseball operations in 2013. Rizzo was fired in July during the Nationals' sixth consecutive losing season. Manager Dave Martinez also was fired then.
Rizzo and Martinez were in charge in 2019 when the Nationals won the World Series, but the team hasn't had a winning year since. Washington went 66-96 in 2025, putting it 14th out of 15 clubs in the National League.
Mike DeBartolo took over as interim GM after Rizzo was let go and oversaw the selection of 17-year-old high school shortstop Eli Willits with the No. 1 pick in Major League Baseball's amateur draft in July.
Toboni, 35, then was hired in late September to run the Nationals; he had been an assistant GM with the Boston Red Sox. He brought in manager Blake Butera, who at 33 became the youngest skipper in the majors since the 1970s.
There is plenty of work to be done to turn around the Nationals, who are in need of plenty of talent and depth as they try to replenish their major league roster and minor league supply of prospects.
Toboni's first move in free agency came Monday, when Washington agreed to terms with left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin on a $5.5 million, one-year contract, pending the successful completion of a physical exam. Griffin played in Japan the past three seasons.
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