Major League Baseball

Rosenthal: Padres hire 36-year-old Rangers assistant to be next GM

Published Aug. 6, 2014 4:10 a.m. ET

Ken Rosenthal

With the 2014 season looking like yet another lost one for the Padres, the franchise on Tuesday made a move it hopes will lift San Diego back into the postseason.

The club has hired Rangers assistant general manager A.J. Preller to be its new general manager, sources confirmed to FOX Sports MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal on Tuesday night. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported later in the evening that the club is likely to announce its hire at a Wednesday news conference at Petco Park.

The Padres had been searching for a full-time GM since firing Josh Byrnes on June 22. Earlier Tuesday, assistant Padres GM A.J. Hinch left the team to pursue another job, a sign that a permanent hire was looming in San Diego. Going into Tuesday, Preller and Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler were considered the frontrunners for the Padres' job.

The Dallas Morning News reported on Tuesday night that Eppler was informed Tuesday that he would not get the Padres' job.

Preller, 36, has been with Texas for 10 years, currently overseeing both player development and scouting. MLB.com credits much of the Rangers' international scouting, which has led to landing players such as Yu Darvish and Jurickson Profar, to Preller.

The Padres are currently in third place in the NL West, though with a record of just 51-61. San Diego has not had a winning season since 2010 and hasn't made the postseason since back-to-back Divisional Series losses to St. Louis in 2005 & '06.