Jed Hoyer, who joined the Red Sox in 2002 and was one of the co-general managers during Theo Epstein’s brief absence, has been named the GM of the San Diego Padres.

The 35-year-old Hoyer emerged as a favorite immediately after Padres CEO Jeff Moorad fired Kevin Towers during the last weekend of the regular season.

Moorad has said he wants a more “strategic approach” from his GM. Towers was known more as a seat-of-the-pants GM who built four NL West winners during his 14 seasons as GM, and had his 1998 club reach the World Series, where it was swept by the Yankees.

oyer will face the same obstacle Towers faced through the years – a payroll significantly smaller that baseball big hitters. The payroll for next season will probably be in the $40 million range.

This is the second time Moorad has hired a Red Sox assistant GM. When he ran the Diamondbacks, Moorad hired Josh Byrnes as general manager in October 2005.

Hoyer was hired by the Red Sox as assistant to the GM following the 2003 season. He was later promoted to assistant GM, and later was given the title of senior vice president.

Good luck, Jed. With a $40 million payroll set for next season, nobody is expecting much. Personally, I’d use that money to flee to South America.