Hoyer In the Fold...

The Padres made it official today, announcing that Jed Hoyer will be the team's new General Manager replacing Kevin Towers.

Hoyer is 35 years old and makes his way to San Diego from Boston where he worked as the assistant GM to another man with Padres ties, Theo Epstein. Hoyer held his first press conference this afternoon, and talked extensively about his plans for the organization moving forward. One thing he really hit hard, was using PETCO Park to the team's advantage.

"It's really important to dominate your home games, to do really well," Hoyer said. "One of the advantages in San Diego is you can tailor the team to the ballpark."

That process seemed to start last season, with the addition of some speed on both the bases and in the outfield. The acquisition of Rule 5 draftee Everth Cabrera, Tony Gwynn Jr. and the emergence of Will Venable as a solid defender in the outfield certainly helped out a young pitching staff.

Hoyer was very complimentary of his predecessor Kevin Towers.

"I grew up in baseball listening to Theo extol Kevin's virtues," Hoyer said. "I got to know him a little bit through Theo. He's one of the best baseball guys in the game. ...

"I'm incredibly thankful for what he's left behind. He's left behind some great players, some great building blocks and a great baseball operations staff. Every day I walk into the office, I'm going to be thankful for the work he did."

He also outlined a brief philosophy on how he wants to proceed...

"My goal is consistency. I want to make sure that on Opening Day every year, there's a quality team on the field. Really, the only way to develop that kind of consistency is through scouting and player development. Relying on external forces -- trades, free agents -- that's not the way I want to build a team. I want to build from within."

I look forward to meeting him when I get back to town. I'll certainly provide some details when I get that chance. I want to say thanks to Friar John and his blog for providing the picture above, and the quotes.

World Series...

The matchup is set, the Yankees look for their 27th World Championship, taking on the Phillies who are looking to make it back to back titles. I'll provide a little more insight into the series and give you my pick to win it all tomorrow. I think these two teams are quite evenly matched and have pretty similar strengths. Could be a good series.

Who's the Boss?

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was not at the "House that George Built" to celebrate another American League Pennant. "The Boss" as he's referred to, is not in great health, and only saw 3 regular season games this year. He will be in attendance Wednesday when the World Series starts. Love him or hate him, the Yankees players and coaches are excited to see him at the stadium. Steinbrenner was and is still in some circles a polarizing figure. He had a reputation of being a hot headed, quick tempered owner. He hated losing, and sometimes didn't go about making his changes in a "politically correct" manner, if you will. He made few friends outside of New York, but give him his due, the Yankees have been a dominant force under his leadership. Brash as it may be.

Not even close...Yankees crush Giants...on TV...

Fans in New York, chose the Yankees over the football Giants by a wide margin last night. The ALCS clincher was seen by 26.4 percent of the TV's in the market, while the Giants were watched by only 9.3 percent of households with TV's. By the way, what households don't have TV's these days?

Big Mac is back, so is LaRussa...

Tony LaRussa agreed to a one year extension with the Cardinals marking his 15th season as the team's manager. As I eluded to yesterday, he made one change to his coaching staff, with the hiring of a new hitting coach, Mark McGwire. Big Mac has been in virtual baseball seclusion since his famous "I'm not here to talk about the past" statement before Congress. It will be interesting to see how he will be received outside of St Louis. Some are quick to forgive, some are long to forget.

Alright, that's it for now...perhaps more later....

Andy