Padres to Get Low-Level Prospect for Jed Hoyer

The Red Sox came first naturally, but the Padres will finally get their compensation. In losing Jed Hoyer and Jason McCleod (or allowing them to walk away rather), the Padres were promised compensation. They knew, and fans knew, the compensation wouldn’t be much. In fact, the compensation to the Red Sox for their loss of Theo Epstein wasn’t really much. The Red Sox received Chris Carpenter from the Cubs – no not that Chris Carpenter. This Chris Carpenter is a 26-year old pitcher who 9.2 innings for the cubs last season. He wasn’t a highly-touted prospect, but he also wasn’t the type of player you stick in the minors and forget about. Hopefully, the Padres will get something similar. Scott Miller of CBS Sports reported the Padres would receive said compensation sometime during spring training but before opening day.

When the deal is finally completed, one of the more strange front office journeys in Padres history will be completed. Jed Hoyer spent just one season in San Diego, traded Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox, helped bring Anthony Rizzo to the big leagues sooner than most expected, and then he was gone. After Hoyer’s departure, he orchestrated a deal that would bring Rizzo to his new club, the Cubs.

It’s as if the Josh Byrnes era, while clearly in full swing, cannot truly begin until Jed Hoyer is no longer linked to the Padres. This is not to say that Hoyer was a bad GM or that him being linked to the Padres is necessarily bad. However, Hoyer is now more known for being the GM under Theo Epstein in Chicago than for being the GM of the Padres for a year. Once the compensation agreement is reached, there should be limited if any focus on Hoyer and Chicago. Aside from the occassional glance at the box score to see how Anthony Rizzo did, the compensation agreement will allow the Padres and the Cubs to part ways as two separate clubs with two different paths.

As far as the actual player the Padres get, the precendent set with the Red Sox indicates a low-level prospect will be all the Padres get at best. The player will likely be somewhere between Kyung-Min Na, who the Padres received as part of the Rizzo trade, and Chris Carpenter, who the Red Sox received as compensation for Theo Epstein’s departure. While the player San Diego receives may not be on anyone’s radar, that doesn’t mean he won’t develop into a player that can contribute on the major league level. Once the deal is finalized and the Padres receive their compensation, analysis can begin. For now, we can simply be happy that we’re nearing a close to the Jed Hoyer-to-the-Cubs headlines.