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Happy Monday, Athletics Nation!
It’s the end of an era, sort of.
On Friday, the A’s announced that executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane will take on a new role as a senior advisor to owner John Fisher. Per Matt Kawahara at the San Francisco Chronicle, this means that general manager David Forst is now officially in charge of baseball operations. However, there has been no mention of a new title for Forst; rather, it seems implicit that Beane’s protegé will run the front office more independently as GM.
“I’m looking forward to essentially kind of being able to move forward on stuff without waiting for [Beane’s] sign-off, I guess,” Forst said on a media call.
“..I’m very excited about my [new] role and ... to see David sort of officially get to lead the baseball operations,” said Beane.
One might get the sense from Forst and Beane’s comments that even more of the day-to-day baseball ops decision making will be handled by Forst, in a continuance of the transition that began in 2015 when Forst succeeded Beane as GM.
In addition to advising Fisher on “broader organizational matters,” however, Beane will continue to provide an advisory role to the baseball operations. He could thus still wield influence tantamount to holding veto power of sorts over front office decisions—but that is speculation on my part.
Beane was clear that the move was made in part to free up time for extracurricular activities such as ventures in soccer, cricket, and data analytics. So while the imprecise nature of this shift might seem nebulous, it does seem apparent that Beane will be significantly reducing his overall involvement with the A’s.
So, AN: with no apparent new hire to compensate for Beane’s step back, it seems clearer than mud, at least, that Forst will be the mastermind of the A’s front office in the longer term. Is he ready? Are you ready? Kinda sorta? Sound off.
A’s Coverage:
- Nico: Aces Wild: Time For The A’s To Get A Break?
- Kawahara: Billy Beane hands off A’s top baseball ops job, moves into new role ($)
- Lockard: What Billy Beane’s new senior adviser role means for the A’s and for his future ($)
- Hampton: Hanshin Tigers Close To Signing Jeremy Beasley and Sheldon Neuse
MLB News & Interest:
- Polishuk and Dierkes: Active MLB Players Who Have Received A Qualifying Offer
- Hampton: Mets Considering Justin Verlander
- Hampton: Mets Believe Jacob deGrom Wants To Stay
- Polishuk: Giants Interested In Kenley Jansen
- Ahram: Free Agent Notes: Bellinger, Turner, Longoria
- Ahram: Free Agent Notes: Judge, White Sox, Strahm
- Franco: Dodgers Non-Tender Cody Bellinger
- Adams: Yankees Have Made New Offer To Aaron Judge
- Today in Baseball History
Best of Twitter:
Update on minor league signings.
Should have included Tyler Wade on this list. A's have several pending offers out, but here's the current signees:
— Athletics Farm (@AthleticsFarm) November 20, 2022
28 y.o. RHP Rico Garcia
27 y.o. LHH 2B-SS Tyler Wade
29 y.o. RHH 2B-3B Pablo Reyes
27 y.o. LHH 1B-OF Trenton Brooks
29 y.o. RHH 1B Kevin Cronhttps://t.co/joKXkyUAPy https://t.co/KtVpu9Iq5D
Happy Birthday, Pache!
Big cheesin’ for good reason
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) November 19, 2022
HBD Cristian! pic.twitter.com/6oW0XkZmgC
I think I would very much enjoy living and eating in Osaka.
Sheldon Neuse is rumored to be signing with the Hanshin Tigers @melissalockard @MartinJGallegos https://t.co/B7AOz3IGxI
— Graveyard Baseball (@GraveyardBall) November 19, 2022
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