The A's have gone back to their championship roots. No, Sandy Alderson or Tony LaRussa or Rickey Henderson aren't coming back.
Rene Lachemann is returning to the Athletics as bench coach for 2005.
This move could be seen as a clear message to Ken Macha about his current status as A's manager. Or it could just be a message that inexperience as a bench coach is not an option, given the 2004 problems with another A's bench coach.
Macha alludes to that here:
"I think it was important to have someone in the position who had previous managerial experience and Rene obviously fits that bill," said A's manager Ken Macha. "He is an outstanding baseball man with a tremendous amount of experience both as a manager and coach. He will be very helpful on the bench and in the clubhouse."
Speier was apparently in over his head at times last season, and that was obvious when he got a few pitching matchups wrong toward the end of the season.
Is Lachemann the manager-in-waiting for any Macha missteps early in the year?
We shall see.
