Mike Hazen is considered one of the baseball industry's brightest young stars and this weekend he had a major decision to ponder -- stay as farm director of the Red Sox or go to San Diego as the assistant general manager of the Padres under former Boston vice president Jed Hoyer.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, the 32-year old Hazen decided to stay. "It was an extremely difficult decision," says Hazen. "The opportunity in San Diego is tremendous. Jed is going to be very successful, and it doesn't get any better than working with Bud Black [Padres manager]. But the situation in Boston is unique, there is a tremendous spirit in the organization and I have a lot of things that remain to be completed."

When Hoyer took the Padres GM job, Ben Cherington moved over from overseeing scouting and player development to the clear number two position with Theo Epstein. The feeling has been that Hazen and scouting dirtector Jason McLeod are ready to have full authority in their fields.

It says something about the environment in the baseball operations department that even though Hazen is a highly-valued member of the organization, Epstein didn't block Hoyer from reaching out him if the position was considered a promotion. In many cases, when a member of an organization leaves, he is requested not to take others with him.

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