The Chicago Cubs' front office overhaul may mean a bit of a reunion for the former Red Sox' baseball operations department.
Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman reported that the Cubs and likely GM-to-be Theo Epstein are interested in bringing San Diego Padres general manager Jed Hoyer aboard if and when the Epstein deal finally gets done. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point that Epstein will end up in Chicago, but compensation remains the hold-up.
Once that is finally figured out, it sounds like Epstein and the Cubs may be trying to get his Boston gang back together, according to Heyman. Hoyer worked under Epstein as the assistant GM in Boston before taking a general manager job in San Diego a couple of years ago. Heyman speculated that while it wouldn't make too much sense for Hoyer to leave a GM job, it's possible that he could be given that same position in Chicago with Epstein working as team president.
If Hoyer were to leave San Diego for the North Side of Chicago, it would likely mean that vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes would be promoted to fill the vacancy. Byrnes, who also used to work in the Boston front office, has also been rumored to join Epstein in Chicago, at least before the Hoyer rumors surfaced.
Furthermore, Heyman also reported that Epstein would be interested in Padres assistant GM Jason McLeod. If that name sounds familiar as well, that's because McLeod was also apart of the baseball operations team in Boston during Epstein's tenure.
Of course, none of these moves can take place until Epstein's move to the Cubs is made official. The two sides continue to haggle over compensation with no real end in sight. Further complicating matters is that the two sides will likely have to hold off on any sort of announcement during the World Series per request of the commissioner's office. While that may not put an end to negotiations and the like, it does mean that an announcement and resolution will likely have to wait at least a week.
