Hoyer new Padres Gm?

Saturday October 24, 2009

The rumors are that Jed Hoyer has been hired by the Padres as their new GM.

Peter Gammons Twittered that that the Red Sox had a going away party for Hoyer several days ago and Bernie Wilson is reporting that Hoyer has already been hired. but no word from PadreVille.

The North County Times is saying that Hoyer has been hired and there will be a press conference Monday afternoon to confirm it, but the Padres have not yet officially called a press conference.

They have until Tuesday to announce it, as major league baseball won't allow announcements during the World Series.

As of Wednesday October 21st Moorad was saying "I'm doing some phone follow-ups and close to making a decision."

I have started to distrust the Padres new CEO Jeff Moorad, and its not just the lies about ticket prices. Moorad said on October 3rd, that he had interviewed 3 candidates and was close to making a decision. He didn't interview Hoyer until Thursday October 15th after the Red Sox were eliminated from the playoffs. He interviewed Ng two days later.

Moorad said he wanted someone with better organizational leadership skills and that was strategic planner.

Hoyer is known as a sabremetric wiz kid and has worked in the major league player personnel and contract negotiation, but has no experience with managing subordinates or with player development. Hoyer has never run a department of his own.

Ben Cherington handled the draft and player development for the Red Sox and oversaw all minor league scouting.

All those things point to the fact that Moorad was either been turned down by one of his earlier candidates or by the commissioners office.

What I find most interesting is that in his time as the CEO of two different clubs, Jeff Moorad has already chosen one guy who learned from Epstein and is now rumored to have hired another, while Epstein himself learned his craft from Kevin Towers.

That is kind of like hiring the assistant coach of a guy that used to be the assistant coach for John Wooden, when you have John Wooden on your staff already.

If Hoyer was hired by the Padres, and it appears from the consistent rumors that he was, then we will see how he does on a team with a low budget. His entire career he has helped negotiate contracts for a team that had nearly an unlimited payroll.

Now he will be working for a small market team with a $40 million payroll in 2010 and a payroll that has averaged in the bottom third in baseball over the past 15 years.