Padres Begin Internal & External Search For Next General Manager

With Manager Bud Black(right) still in the fold, Padres CEO Mike Dee(left) now has to find the right GM to couple with his field manager. Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The waves of rumors about the vacant general manager position with the San Diego Padres are beginning to crash on the shores of Twitter, and it appears interviews of potential candidates will begin soon. Add to that, there is a laundry list of names reportedly in the hunt for the job.

As noted in a string of Tweets from insider Ken Rosenthal, the list is a who’s who of up and comers from outside the organization, along with the popular names already inside the building.

Per Rosenthal here is a list of names on a Padres’ wish-list that is reportedly taking shape and a brief background:

1. Omar Minaya: Current VP of Baseball Operations in San Diego, long time big league GM in two prior stops. Spent two seasons as GM for the Montreal Expos and five seasons as GM of the New York Mets
2. A.J. Hinch: Former big league catcher and manager, currently part of the three-headed interim GM monster in San Diego as VP of Professional Scouting.
3. Larry Beinfest: Fired this off-season after six seasons as the President of Baseball Operations for the Florida Marlins. Beinfest had previously been General Manager in Miami since 2002. His early stops in baseball included Montreal and Seattle.
4. Billy Eppler: Began his career in baseball as a scout for the Padres in 2000, before moving on to work in the Yankees’ Tampa office in 2004. Headed the newly created pro scouting department starting in 2005, then moved into his current role as Assistant General Manager in 2011.
5. Mike Hazen: Top lieutenant for Ben Cherington in the Boston Red Sox’ front office since 2011. With Boston since 2006, Hazen also worked for five years in the Cleveland front office. He was a Padres 31st Round draft pick in 1998 out of Princeton.
6. Thad Levine: Eight seasons as the Assistant General Manager for the Texas Rangers. Was previously a senior ops director for the Colorado Rockies.
7. David Forst: Has been a constant in the Oakland A’s front office under Billy Beane. The 37-year-old Harvard grad is in his 11th season as Assistant GM under Beane.
8. Jason McLeod: From a modest start in baseball as an intern in the Padres’ PR department, followed Theo Epstein to Boston, then to Chicago where he works now as the Senior VP of Scouting and Player Development.
9. Michael Girsch: In his third year as assistant general manager in St. Louis, after working his way up through the scouting department of the Cardinals since 2006.

While President and CEO Mike Dee is quoted as saying the process to fill the job begins now, Rosenthal’s sources say the timetable may be a long one for an actual decision on the hire. Reportedly it is a “long-shot” that the team will make a decision and get a GM in the office by July 31st.