Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated sent these tweets this morning. 

"Padres gm jed hoyer is being considered for hire by the cubs/epstein. If hoyer goes to chicago, josh byrnes would be sd gm"

"Hoyer may stay in sd. But sources say cubs interest real. Cubs also looking at byrnes/mcleod from sd. Story on si.com soon"

Although some people mentioned Hoyer and the Red Sox connection last week, the Red Sox never showed interest.  It appears as though this story may have some legs.  It raises the question, is it better to be an assistant GM in a large market or a GM in a small market?  It should be noted, Hoyer could also be the backup plan in the event that the Cubs deal with Epstein falls through. 

After his first season in Petco, the Padres won 90 games and although Hoyer was given plenty of credit, Kevin Towers (now the Diamondbacks GM) had his finger prints all over the 2010 team.  In 2011 Hoyer overhauled the Padres roster and put his stamp on the team, bringing in players such as Cameron Maybin, Orlando Hudson, Brad Hawpe, and Jason Bartlett, while trading superstar Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox.  Afterwards Hoyer campaigned that the 2011 Padres lineup would be better from top to bottom.  They scored 593 runs, good for second lowest in the National League. 

I can't blame Hoyer if he were to leave San Diego.  This was just a stepping stone job for the young general manager and given the obstacles he faces with the Padres, it may be best to take a step back to take two steps forward. 

Photo: Natasha Baucas, creative commons