The Oakland Athletics’ roster has gone through many changes over the past few years, but the front office has not. Well, this offseason might be different. It is being reported that general manager Billy Beane is due for a promotion, leaving his position open for the taking. So the real question is, are the A’s going to look within their own front office or conduct interviews with those outside of the Athletics’ organization?
It is expected that Beane will be promoted to a president-level title. Oakland does not currently have a President of Baseball Operations although Beane is currently the Vice President of Baseball Operations. This could potentially be his title change this offseason. Then, as noted by Susan Slusser from the San Francisco Chronicle, it is expected that assistant general manager David Forst will be promoted to general manager.
Let’s learn a little bit more about the Athletics’ potentially new GM Forst. Forst is in his 16th season with the Oakland Athletics. This year was his 12th season as assistant general manager and and he was an assistant to the general manager and coordinator of professional scouting before his current role. It must be noted that Forst has turned down opportunities to interview for GM positions with other teams in the past. This indicates that he must have the skills required for the job, but he sees more opportunities for growth with the Athletics’ front office. It is also ideal that he was worked with Beane and for the Athletics for quite some time and understands how the organization likes to be run.
So, who will be making the decisions once all of these position and title changes take place? It is believed that Beane will still be in charge of making all of the decisions for the team. So, it does not sound as though their job descriptions will change. However, a change this big has not occurred in the A’s front office since 1998.
Perhaps Forst will take on more responsibility or will have a more influential voice on decision making matters. Maybe Beane is looking to retire soon and wants to lessen his workload for the last few years while he is with the Oakland Athletics. Whatever the reason may be, there will be some changes taking place in Oakland’s front office and it will be interesting to see how the changes affect the decision making in the organization.
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