Change with the Padres

So the Padres have a new GM, and thus, they are making a change in their player development director as well.

Jed Hoyer is the new GM, replacing the recently fired Kevin Towers. As soon as Hoyer was announced as GM, Grady Fuson was relieved of his duties as VP of Player Development.

Why should you care?

It's when things like this happen that remind everyone just how little the low levels of the minors ultimately mean to the big league club. We all remember the Fort Wayne TinCaps success this season, right? 102 wins is hard to forget. It was largely Towers and his staff that drafted that great crop of players, and Fuson and his staff that developed that great group of players. And while I'm sure the Padres are happy that they've won at the low-A level in 2009, it's not enough to save the jobs of the top two guys in terms of player personnel.

I don't know whether Towers and Fuson deserved to be fired or not. That's not for me to decide. All I know is that Hoyer is taking over a bad major league team, but has a great crop of prospects -- and that's exactly what every GM in MLB wants.

We'll wait for the fall out and see if the TinCaps staff get to keep their jobs with a new Player Development regime in place.