It has been an eventful few months for Jed Hoyer ’96, who just recently resumed his position as Assistant General Manager of the Boston Red Sox after a month-long stint as full-fledged co-General Manager.
“He’s back to the job he was ecstatic about in the first place,” said Mark Woodworth ’94, Wesleyan’s head baseball coach and longtime friend of Hoyer. “It doesn’t surprise me that he became a general manager. He was going to become a general manager sooner or later. It was sooner. He’ll be GM again.”
Since joining the Red Sox as an unpaid intern in 2002, Hoyer has steadily risen through the ranks to Assistant GM. It seemed that Hoyer was one of the rising young stars in the Red Sox front office. He did not disappoint. After the departure of Theo Epstein as GM on Oct. 31 of last year, Hoyer and Ben Cherington were tapped as co-GMs.
“It doesn’t surprise me because he has the combination of great baseball experience—he knows baseball—and great interpretive skills,” Woodworth said. “He has the synthesis of being a great player and deep knowledge of the game. I think that’s the ability that separates him.”
Hoyer and Cherington stepped down in January when it was announced that Theo Epstein, the former GM, was returning to the Red Sox.
“[Hoyer] knew that if Theo wanted to come back, he would become Assistant GM,” Woodworth said. “He was going to be the best GM he could be. If something happened and he wasn’t, then okay. He wasn’t just a hanger-on.”
Epstein left the Red Sox amid reports of personal disagreements over the long-term direction of the Red Sox and conflict over his contract. Six weeks later, Hoyer and Cherington were appointed to manage the team in Epstein’s place.
Hoyer, who started his career with the Red Sox by working closely with Epstein, expressed excitement at the former GM’s return, according to ESPN.
He continues to work at the forefront of Red Sox affairs, including the recent deal that brought in Coco Crisp to fill the void created by the departure of Johnny Damon to the New York Yankees.
“This whole trade the other day—the Coco Crisp trade—that was all him,” Woodworth said. “It shows that he could do something, that he has the ability to do something.”
Before joining the Red Sox, Hoyer worked a number of positions at Wesleyan, including assistant Dean of Admissions, special assistant to the Vice President of University Relations, and assistant baseball coach during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. According to Woodworth, Hoyer’s time at Wesleyan was a life-shaping experience.
“He loves Wesleyan,” Woodworth said. “Knowing him since he was in high school, I definitely can see Wesleyan was a really special thing for him, and he embraced it, like we all did, and became better because of it.”
Though he played baseball his entire four years at Wesleyan and talked about the sport with Woodworth constantly, Hoyer never specifically aspired to the position of GM as an undergraduate.
“He was open to the possibility of greatness—that’s what it was,” Woodworth said. “Did we talk about baseball all the time, nonstop? Yes. Did he say, ‘I want to be a GM someday,’ or did I say, ‘I want to be head baseball coach someday?’ No.”
Some students, such as JJ Feigenbaum ’08, were pleased by the high proportion of Wesleyan graduates in New England franchises.
“Even though Hoyer was only General Manager for a few weeks, it was exciting while it lasted,” Feigenbaum said. “For a few weeks, Wesleyan alumni were running the Sox and the Pats. Not too shabby.”
Hoyer’s time as General Manager may have been relatively brief, but it is nonetheless a clear recognition of his ability, Woodworth claims.
“The getting of the job, becoming a general manager, says a lot on a certain level,” Woodworth said. “Yet on many levels, it’s just a beginning. He had a great little beginning. That’s not the culmination of his career. It’s in many ways the beginning of something really neat. And that’s what’s so exciting about it. That’s what’s thrilling about it.”
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