Melvin had been here for 11 seasons and he was popular and successful throughout, so it’s been a while since we’ve had to think about the topic of a new manager.
Promoting from within might seem like the natural A’s thing to do, and indeed that’s how they settled on Ken Macha and Bob Geren in the past.
When Geren turned out to be a total flop, the A’s did reach outside their ranks to bring in Melvin, who was working in the D’Backs front office at the time.
It would make sense to do that again, especially since the difference between a high and low manager salary is a pittance compared with the spectrum of player payrolls.
That said, finances seem to be especially tight for John Fisher’s team right now, and there are a couple of particularly interesting and legitimately qualified candidates in the organization already.
In four of those five years he led his clubs to the playoffs, and both years in Double-A they won the Texas League championship — featuring stars including Sean Manaea, Matt Olson, and Matt Chapman.
At age 47 he’d be one of the younger skippers in the majors, hungry for his first opportunity to prove himself, leading a presumably rebuilding squad of players doing the same.
He spent a summer as the Padres hitting coach in 2015, then six seasons on the A’s staff in various roles including bench coach, third base coach, and something called Quality Control coach.
That resume has drawn the attention of the rest of the league, and Kotsay has been on the national radar for a couple years.
In 2004 he got the only MVP votes of his career, and in 2006 he made his first trip to the playoffs, hitting a go-ahead inside-the-park homer to help win Game 2 of the ALDS.
With Bob Melvin leaving Oakland, gotta think Ron Washington will be high on the list of candidates for A’s managerial job.
That’s not any kind of rumor, just speculation from an insider.
He has managerial experience from his time with the Texas Rangers, where he spent eight seasons and led the way to a pair of World Series appearances.
It’s only a fun idea for now, and there are question marks.
Christenson and Kotsay have both earned a chance somewhere, and you have to wonder if the one who get passed over for this opening might bolt for the next chance elsewhere.