The Cubs announced this evening that former Padres GM Jed Hoyer and assistant GM Jason McLeod will be leaving the Padres and joining the Cubs. Hoyer will be the general manager and McLeod will be head of scouting and player development. The Cubs will send compensation in the form of a minor leaguer to the Padres, who are expected to promote Josh Byrnes to general manager.
The Cubs will reshuffle their front office quite a bit, with front office mainstays Tom Wilken and Oneri Fleita reporting to McLeod.
"The only way [to win consistently] is through scouting and player development," Hoyer said when hired in San Diego. "I want to build it from within. There's no magic formula that I learned in Boston, no 'special sauce.' It comes down to the building blocks of baseball, which are scouting and development."
The Cubs now sport an All-Star crew in their front office primed to make some big moves over the next year. This upcoming offseason should be especially interesting as the Cubs will be sporting a new face and a new team when luring players to the friendly confines.
What will also be interesting is next years draft. The Cubs have relied on Wilken especially in that department but with a new look and philosophy, they could have their eyes on other players. It will be interesting to see what kind of budget the teams new owner, Ricketts family, gives Epstein, Hoyer, and the crew to work with.