A's squash speculation about Forst and San Diego

Oct 7, 2009 - 10:40 PM By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO(AP) -- The Oakland Athletics squashed speculation that assistant general manager David Forst is in the mix to become the next general manager of the San Diego Padres

The A's said in a statement e-mailed exclusively to The Associated Press on Wednesday that Forst has not interviewed for the job, nor has anyone asked for permission to interview him.

"At this time, he has no interest in pursuing a position outside of Oakland and has no plans to leave the A's organization," the statement concluded.

The Padres fired Kevin Towers last weekend, ending his 14-year run as GM.

Jeff Moorad, the Padres' vice chairman and CEO, has declined to comment on the search other than to say that he's interviewed three candidates and probably will interview two more.

Forst, Billy Beane's longtime right-hand man, just completed his 10th season with Oakland and sixth as assistant GM.

Another possible candidate for the San Diego job is Jed Hoyer, assistant general manager of the Boston Red Sox. Hoyer declined to comment when contacted by the AP via e-mail.

When Moorad was CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks, he hired another Red Sox assistant GM, Josh Byrnes, as general manager.

Towers, the longest-tenured GM in the big leagues, was fired with one year left on his contract. Moorad said he wanted a more "strategic approach." Towers was known more as a seat-of-the-pants GM who built four NL West winners and had his 1998 club reach the World Series, where it was swept by the Yankees.

Moorad has said that there are no internal candidates and that he won't interview anyone with the Diamondbacks.

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AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in Oakland contributed to this report.