For Chicago Cubs, Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer Would Make Winning Combination

If the reports are true, not only will Theo Epstein be joining the Cubs as President of Baseball Operations, but Jed Hoyer may also be coming on board as GM.

Hoyer, the current San Diego Padres GM, was a senior vice president and assistant GM to Epstein in Boston from 2005 to 2009.

While he is signed through 2013, the Padres are expected to be willing to let him go so that Josh Byrnes can take over as GM.

Byrnes is a favorite of Padres CEO Jeff Moorad and served as Moorad's GM in Arizona. 

Also, Moorad and Cubs owner Tom Ricketts are friends, so there isn't expected to be another compensation "Round 2" over Hoyer's departure.

This situation would be ideal. Hoyer is a young executive (37) who I would have liked to have had back in 2009 when he left Boston to go to San Diego.

And he was trained under Epstein, so the two obviously think alike and that cohesiveness and ideology would permeate throughout the organization.

Both are sabermetric-friendly baseball men, and have experienced much success together. They certainly fit Ricketts' criteria for being strong player development advocates.

Also, perhaps Hoyer could bring with him Jason McLeod, another former Red Sox front office man, and close friend of Hoyer, who is well respected in the industry.

With all of these former Boston executives around, it's no wonder that Epstein has reportedly agreed not to raid the Red Sox front office as part of his move to Chicago.

Hoyer started out as an intern with Boston and was actively involved in player development, Major League scouting, quantitative analysis and advance scouting during his eight years with the team.

He even served as co-General Manager for Boston over a 44-day stint while Epstein briefly left the organization back in 2005.

Meanwhile, the compensation talks drag on another day. But I do not think that Ricketts will blow this one—he will get his man.

Oh, better make that "men," come to think of it.

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