As players move in and out, A’s front office remains intact
It appears the A’s front office, including Billy Beane, will remain intact for the 2021 season, and third baseman Matt Chapman should be ready for spring training after labrum surgery in September, manager Bob Melvin said Thursday.
“I think one of the reasons our organization has been successful, with as much turnover as we have player-wise, is the continuity with the guys who are in charge, that’s really ruled the day here,” Melvin said on a Zoom call with reporters. “It looked like at the beginning of the offseason that there might be several in that group not here. At this point, it looks like everyone will be back.”
The A’s are known to keep a consistent churn of players — from fan favorites to disappointments — in and out of the organization. This offseason will be no exception as 10 free agents look headed for the door with no indication the A’s will retain any of them.
Over the last couple of decades, the people spinning the revolving door have remained. Beane, general manager David Forst and assistant GM Billy Owens, to name a few, have created a model for success utilizing the shoestring budget that necessitates the revolving door.
But the rumor spread in October that Beane was planning an A’s exit to focus on European soccer on an MLB-approved merger between his RedBall investment group and Red Sox owner John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group.
Then Owens and Forst landed on the shortlist of general managers new Mets president Sandy Alderson would pursue in the organization’s front office revamp.
Nothing came to be. The Mets hired Jared Porter as their new GM and there’s been little known movement with the RedBall-Fenway merger since news broke of the possibility over the summer. Melvin said he’s expecting the A’s front office to stay put for another year.
As for the player churn,
Melvin said he’s already thinking about how his roster will recover from some key losses. Too expensive for the A’s now, All- Star closer Liam Hendriks is almost certainly gone. With solid interest outside of Oakland, shortstop Marcus Semien could be gone, too. And second baseman Tommy La Stella may not return despite the A’s interest in re- signing him at the 2020 trade deadline.
The bullpen could be further decimated with possible losses of Yusmeiro Petit, Joakim Soria and T. J. McFarland.
With the budget even tighter than in year’s past due to revenue loss, the A’s are likely to lean on talent already in-house to fill the gaps. Forst said and Melvin reiterated that Jake Diekman, who allowed one run in all of his 2020 campaign, is the frontrunner to take over the closer role. Lou Trivino and J.B. Wendelken are also late-inning options.
A. J. Puk, who didn’t throw a single pitch in the 2020 season after sustaining another shoulder injury that required surgery, could be best suited for a bullpen role. Not only will it help manage his workload to prevent another injury, but Puk’s high-velocity fastball and wipeout slider could take the bullpen to another level.
“When (Puk) first game to the big leagues he came out of the bullpen,” Melvin said. “We need to keep him healthy, don’t want to throw too much at him. He’s the one guy that we’ll probably have to pay more attention to from a workload point of view.”
With a jam-packed rotation featuring Jesús Luzardo, Frankie Montas, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea, some of the MLBready prospects could be used out of the bullpen, too. That means Grant Holmes, James Kaprielian and Daulton Jefferies could be used as relievers — and Forst said recently he expects them to play a role on the team in 2021.
As for the middle infield, the A’s can move some depth players around. Chad Pinder, for example, could play some shortstop or second base.