The Padres got a new owner. He let GM Kevin Towers go, saying Towers was a cowboy and the Padres needed more process. (By this, he may have meant fuller and better information on which to make player decisions.) So the Padres have hired Hoyer from the Red Sox to be their new GM.

Here is where it gets strange. The Red Sox are in turn hiring Kevin Towers to advise their GM, Epstein. One could say, the Red Sox wanted more cowboys.

Walt Jocketty had an advisory board with 3 or 4 guys with past GM experience. Its a tough job and sometimes able people get blamed and have to be fired, to appease fan anger. Every year, some team is going to lose and somebody is going to take the rap. So there are very smart baseball guys who lose GM jobs and move elsewhere to advise other teams, like Walt used to have his stable of former GMs.

With these movements of executives between teams, its hard to keep secrets within the sport and to stay ahead of the competition, doubly so if they have more money than your team.

The Dominicans are so so devoted to baseball, this is why the chemistry issue seems deepest there.