Padres hire Hoyer as general manager

Oct 25, 2009 - 2:30 AM By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO(AP) -- 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.