Earlier today, Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman reported that the Cubs were interested in the Padres' 37-year-old general manager, Jed Hoyer. This immediately drew confused reactions from many people, myself included. If Theo Epstein is to be the Cubs' general manager, Hoyer would be an assistant with the Cubs. And when he's a general manager now, why would he leave that job to get a lesser job with another organization?

Well, one of the things that was immediately speculated by people(and again, myself included) was that Epstein would be taking the President of Baseball Operations title with the Cubs, and Hoyer would serve as the general manager. That would then be a job he'd obviously be very interested in, as he worked alongside Epstein for a few years in Boston, and the Cubs will have significantly better resources to work with than the Padres will.

And Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal confirms tonight that Epstein is apparently looking to be the President of Baseball Operations and hire a general manager under him:

Epstein is actively looking to hire a GM, a move that would enable him to serve the Cubs as president of baseball operations, according to major league sources.

The change in job description would qualify as a promotion for Epstein. It also would allow him to be less involved in the day-to-day grind that wears down many GMs.

As Rosenthal also notes in the article, Hoyer is under contract with the Padres through 2013, with a club option for 2014. Therefore, acquiring his services would surely mean that the Cubs would have to give the Padres compensation, just like they've been working on tirelessly with the Red Sox for Epstein. So, even if Hoyer would be a target, the Padres may require a high price for him, and the Cubs don't want to give up too many top prospects to fill out their front office staff.

If Hoyer were to leave, it is assumed that Padres Vice President of Operations, Josh Byrnes, would take over the general manager role there. And what makes that funny, is that up until today, reports were that it was expected Byrnes(who also has worked alongside Epstein in Boston) would join Epstein in the Cubs front office. It would be much easier to get him over to the Cubs than Hoyer, but it will probably all come down to who they prefer more(unless the Padres have a very high asking price in return for Hoyer).

First things first though- The Cubs need to get this deal with the Red Sox completed and there's now whispers that may not end up happening until after the World Series is over. I've been patient because there's probably much going on in the compensatory process, due to the Red Sox's prospect demands and front office members in Boston that Epstein is trying to bring over to Chicago. But it's starting to get frustrating, and I wish they could get this inevitable deal finalized already.

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