Climb aboard the MLB front office merry-go-round

By: Joey Nowak Posted: 11/02/09 4:08pm Comments: 0

And you thought the revolving door for NBA and NFL coaches was amusing?

Since the San Diego Padres fired general manager Kevin Towers and hired former Boston Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer, things are looking like they might just flip-flop in interesting fashion.

First off, Towers is a good GM who could do a lot of good for a lot of clubs. I think Jeff Moorad, the owner of the Padres, was looking for some more immediate results and a bit of hustle in terms of player development. Towers was well on his way of getting the most out of the Friars’ farm system, but may have just been running out of time.

San Diego, at times this season, was just plain awful. They weren’t winning games and when Jake Peavy went down with an injury, there simply was no reason for fans to come to the ballpark. Towers then pulled off a monumental trade for Peavy and, though it took some time, the Padres got back on the winning track.

By the end of the season, the starting lineup was drastically different from that on opening day and the starting rotation had undergone a serious makeover, as well. And much of this has to do with the dealings of Towers.

At any rate, it’s hard to argue with the success of the Red Sox front office system and their farm clubs, either. And Hoyer is known for his player development (maybe that’s why his first move was to fire Grady Fuson, the franchise’s vice president of scouting and player development). Expect Hoyer to get most out of the fruitful young players the Padres should have in their lineup to start the year.

On the other side of things, it’s rumored that Towers could be next in line for … Hoyer’s job back in Boston. Ironically, the Boston GM — Theo Epstein — is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law and is a former member of the Padres’ PR department and the former director of operations for the club. Ah, how the tables have turned.

You don’t typically like to see a young gun swooping in to take the place of an established front office man in baseball. But in this case, it looks like it could be the best for both worlds. The Padres have a guy with great experience with a successful club in Jed Hoyer, while some other team (maybe the Red Sox, maybe not) surely will have success with Kevin Towers on their staff.