The San Diego Padres’ biggest move this offseason didn’t come on the field. It came in the front office when the team hired Jed Hoyer in the fall to be the eighth general manager in club history. The 36-year-old Hoyer comes to San Diego after spending seven years with the Boston Red Sox — the last three as assistant general manager. With the season just underway on Monday, Downtown News talked with Hoyer about his brief time with the club and his projections for 2010. What do you like so far about the Padres organization? Hoyer: “My five months here have been wonderful with (owner) Jeff Moorad and (president) Tom Garfinkel, but that’s pretty much what I expected. That’s the number one thing — everything starts with ownership. In general, the young energy around the team is very good, I’ve really enjoyed working with (manager) Bud Black and obviously it’s a wonderful city and ballpark.” What is your role as GM? Hoyer: “I see my role as overseeing all baseball operations, and the 25 players you see at the Major League level are just the tip of the iceberg. You’ve got an amateur scouting staff, an international scouting staff, player development staff and to do the GM job right, you have to be focused on all those areas all the time.” How does a team that has averaged 93 losses the past two seasons make strides in 2010? Hoyer: “The most important thing is really focusing on young, athletic talent. We can make strides this year with guys like Tony Gwynn (OF), Will Venable (OF), Kyle Blanks (OF), Everth Cabrera (SS) and Mat Latos (RHP) to name a few. These are young players that haven’t really reached their ceiling yet and that’s an area where we can make strides.” How challenging is it to field a competitive team with the payroll limitations? Hoyer: “It’s a different puzzle to put together. You’re not going to be out there looking at the highest-price free agents. Young players are inexpensive players and you can certainly field a very good team without having one of the highest payrolls. Examples like Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Minnesota are certainly instructive.” Where will we see your influence on the diamond? Hoyer: “For me, the game is all about players, so I certainly don’t want people thinking about me when they’re watching the team. They should be thinking about the players. Hopefully, in subtle ways over time, we can reconstruct the roster into a little more athletic, dynamic group.” What have been the biggest moves this offseason (aside from yourself)? Hoyer: “From a non-player standpoint, our focus on the amateur draft side I think was probably the biggest thing. We really reconstructed the scouting department. I brought over Jason McLeod from Boston to be the assistant GM here and we hired a number of scouts. We also added a number of very good players — Jon Garland (RHP), Yorvit Torrealba (C), Jerry Hairston (Utility), Aaron Cunningham (OF) and we brought back Scott Hairston.” What do you think is the biggest thing you learned from your time with the Red Sox? Hoyer: “What I learned most is to never stop digging for information, whether that comes in the form of scouting reports, quantitative analysis or medical information. You never stop digging for more information and you never stop thinking about ways to gain a competitive advantage and I think if you do that it’s a good start to being a successful and efficient organization.” Is there something you would like to tell the fans? Hoyer: “This team played incredibly hard at the end of last season. They played really hard in spring training. I don’t make predictions, but I’m sure that this team will go out every night and be well prepared and both play incredibly hard and play up to their potential. There are no players on our team that we worry about at all from an energy and effort standpoint and think that’s very important.”