The Padres are searching the nation for their next general manager,as they have profiled close to a dozen candidates since Josh Byrnes was fired. Here are the candidates who have interviewed for the gig:
Larry Beinfest: Benifest was the first candidate to interview for the position. Beinfest is intriguing for multiple reasons: He is the former general manager of the Florida/Miami Marlins and he built the squad that won the 2003 World Series. Beinfest was raised in California and has experience working with limited resources. The Marlins were a consistent winner with Beinfest at the helm.
A.J. Preller: Preller is currently an assistant general manager with the Texas Rangers. He has worked for Major League Baseball as well as for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Preller has worked for the Rangers over the last ten seasons and is credited with helping Texas scout Latin America and Japan.
Billy Eppler: Eppler is currently an assistant GM with the New York Yankees. Eppler is actually a native San Diegan and is considered by many to be the "right-hand" man of Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. Eppler was also a scout for the Padres in the early 2000's. When Brian Cashman created a pro scouting department he selected Eppler to head it.
Ray Montgomery: Montgomery is currently employed as the director of scouting for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also spent time with the Milwaukee Brewers and played three seasons in the big leagues. The Padres offered Montgomery a job as the scouting director in 2009vbut he declined. vHe is credited with discovering Rickie Weeks.
Logan White: vWhite is currently the Vice President of Amateur Scouting for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has been with the Dodgers for the last 12 seasons. He is responsible for the draft selection of players like Kenley Jansen, Clayton Kershaw and Russell Martin. Before his time in Los Angeles, White spent time with the Baltimore Orioles as the West Coast Supervisor in charge of overseeing all of the area scouts. He held that same position for the Padres from 2003-2005.
Mike Hazen: Hazen currently serves as the assistant general manager for the Boston Red Sox. Hazen also worked for current Padres CEO Mike Dee while he was in Boston. Hazen was drafted by the Padres in 1998 after attending Princeton University.
The Padres are also interested in talking to Kim Ng who currently works as the Senior-Vice President for Baseball Operations with Major League Baseball. She is also the former assistant general manager with the Los Angeles Dodgers. She has not interviewed for the job as of yet.
In addition to the candidates who have interviewed for the Padres general manager job, several executives have turned down the shot to run the Friars. Cubs executive Jason McLeod, David Forst of the A's, Mike Chernoff of the Indians and Cardinals assistant general manager Michael Girsch have withdrawn their names for consideration for the job. Omar Minaya, who currently works for the Padres, has declined to interview for the position citing family reasons.
San Diego hopes to have a general manager in place by the end of the July. It is unclear whether the executive will in place in time for the trade deadline.