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The San Diego Padres have hired Jed Hoyer away from the Boston Red Sox to take over as general manager, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney.
Hoyer and the Padres had been in serious discussions for several days and finalized the agreement Saturday. He will be announced by the Padres on Monday.
Hoyer was hired by the Red Sox as assistant to the GM following the 2003 season. He was then promoted to assistant GM, and later was given the title of senior vice president.
Hoyer has some previous experience as a general manager, partnering with Ben Cherington to serve as co-GMs for 44 days after Theo Epstein walked away on Halloween 2005. Epstein returned to the role in January 2006, but Hoyer remained in the Sox front office until accepting the Padres' offer.
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 and the Padres had been in serious discussions for several days and finalized the agreement Saturday. He will be announced by the Padres on Monday.
Hoyer was hired by the Red Sox as assistant to the GM following the 2003 season. He was then promoted to assistant GM, and later was given the title of senior vice president.
Hoyer has some previous experience as a general manager, partnering with Ben Cherington to serve as co-GMs for 44 days after Theo Epstein walked away on Halloween 2005. Epstein returned to the role in January 2006, but Hoyer remained in the Sox front office until accepting the Padres' offer.
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.
