It was seemingly inevitable that Billy Beane would depart the Oakland A’s. His sports investment firm, RedBall Acquisition Corp, was set to merge with Fenway Sports Group LLC, as part of a plan to make the latter a publically traded company.
This proposed merger would have distinct effects upon the A’s. First, Beane would have to leave the organization due to a conflict of interest. Then the A’s would need to find a new president of baseball ops, which would likely be current general manager David Forst. That would lead to the organization needing to find a new GM, as the domino effect would continue.
Billy Beane sticking with Oakland A’s after all
After delays, it appears that Beane will be staying with the A’s after all. According to reports, the proposed merger has fallen through, although RedBall could still hypothetically become involved in a different manner. The door for a partnership has not entirely closed.
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That negative for Beane is a positive for the A’s. The brain trust will remain in place for a bit longer, allowing the franchise to look to continue their impressive run of success. While Beane may eventually move on at his own time, Oakland will be able to set up a more defined hierarchy and plan to replace him atop the baseball ops department.
Chances are, nothing will change in regards to who moves up. Forst is still likely to be the heir apparent whenever Beane departs for his next challenge, wherever and whatever that may be. However, this should make that transition that much smoother, especially with a more delineated timeline.
The A’s still have one more mountain to climb with Beane in charge – win the World Series. They finally won a playoff series for the first time in nearly two decades last season, but still fell short of the ultimate goal. It would be a perfect sendoff to a man who is now in his fourth decade with the organization.
Billy Beane is not being forced to leave the Oakland A’s. He is staying around after all.