SAN DIEGO — Jed Hoyer was once co-general manager of
the Boston Red Sox for 44 days after Theo Epstein walked away from the job.
Now Hoyer has a GM gig of his own.
The San Diego Padres have hired Hoyer as their new
general manager, a person with knowledge of the situation said Saturday.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity because the formal announcement won't be until Monday.
Hoyer, who was in Boston's front office when the Red Sox
won the World Series in 2004 and 2007, is due in San Diego on Sunday.
The 35-year-old Hoyer emerged as a favorite immediately
after Padres CEO Jeff Moorad fired Kevin Towers during the last weekend of the
regular season.
Moorad has said he wants a more "strategic approach" from
his GM. Towers was known more as a seat-of-the-pants GM who built four NL West
winners during his 14 seasons as GM, and had his 1998 club reach the World
Series, where it was swept by the Yankees.
Hoyer inherits a young team that floundered for much of
the season before playing well the final two months to finish fourth in the NL
West at 75-87. The Padres, who went 37-25 since July 28, finished ahead of the
Arizona Diamondbacks, who had been put together by Moorad before he resigned in
early January to pursue the purchase of the Padres from John Moores. Moorad and
his group currently own about 35 percent of the team.
Hoyer will face the same obstacle Towers faced through
the years – a payroll significantly smaller than baseball's big hitters. The
payroll for next season will probably be in the $40 million range.
This is the second time Moorad has hired a Red Sox
assistant GM. When he ran the Diamondbacks, Moorad hired Josh Byrnes as general
manager in October 2005.
Hoyer was hired by the Red Sox as assistant to the GM
following the 2003 season. He was later promoted to assistant GM, and later was
given the title of senior vice president.
Epstein, who spent five seasons working under Towers in
San Diego's baseball operations department, walked away from his job as Boston
GM on Halloween 2005. Hoyer and Ben Cherington were later named co-GMs. Epstein
returned on Jan. 24, 2006.
Originally from Plymouth, N.H., Hoyer played shortstop
and pitched for four seasons at Wesleyan University. He was an assistant coach
at Wesleyan for two seasons.
A week ago, the Padres interviewed Los Angeles Dodgers
assistant GM Kim Ng, giving her a third chance to become the first female GM in
major league history.